PAPERS, KOMRADE? by T. Edwin Perry
Oh, the Humanity! The backlash relating to the recently passed Immigration Law in Arizona has included name-calling, riots and assaults on police officers responsible for protecting State Representatives. Protests in California over the weekend broke out in a riot, including anarchist graffiti and the lighting of a fire in a coffee shop, with damages estimated between $50,000 and $100,000, and for what? Because Arizona is going to expect people stopped for OTHER ISSUES to be able to properly identify themselves, either as Legal Immigrants or US Citizens!
Posts on Facebook.com and Liberal Blogsites have equated the new law to being akin to Nazi Germany, Apartheid and the “Jim Crow South” of American History. Really? I’d be more than a little hard-pressed to come up with a correlation between DEPORTATION, Gas Chambers and Human Ovens! Oddly enough, when Conservatives make correlations between the Obama Administration and Hitler’s Germany, they’re blasted by these same Liberal Bloggers currently invoking the name of Adolf Hitler for inciting violence and hatred against Obama. (I’ve never said that Obama was like Hitler. In my opinion, he’s not that charismatic, and doesn’t think that far ahead. If we’re going to compare our current government to the history of Germany, I’d be more likely to compare it to Friedrich Ebert and the Post WWI Weimar Republic, but that’s what lead to the rise of the NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY (aka: NAZI), which lead to Hitler’s Germany, so, yes, it was BAD! But, no, not Hitler.)
Can someone please explain to me why it is so bad to be required to be able to identify yourself properly with documentation? I have a Driver’s License, and if I’m pulled over by a police officer, which I have been, I have to be able to show my license, my vehicle registration and my proof of insurance. When the officer calls in my ID, he or she will be verifying whether or not I have any warrants out for my arrest, if my license is valid, and if my insurance is up to date. If I don’t have a license, or my registration, or my insurance, guess what: I’m going to jail! That’s right. Until I can prove those things, I get to go to jail, and THAT’S in Florida, not Arizona!
Let me paint another picture for you. I’ve had a Valid Driver’s License for the past 22 years. This year, I have to renew my license and, for the first time since I first received my license, I have to go to the DMV to renew. Guess what identification I CANNOT USE to prove my identity: My Driver’s License. That’s right, I have to bring OTHER documentation to prove my identity, including my citizenship.
The new “Florida Card” Identification is more than just a Driver’s License. It includes coding about my LEGAL STATUS as a Citizen, or Legal Immigrant. As a citizen, the ID I need to prove my citizenship is a Certified Copy of my Birth Certificate, which I have to get from Texas because I don’t currently have one. But I could use, if I had one, a valid US Passport, or a Certificate of Citizenship if I were a naturalized Citizen.
In addition to this documentation, I also will need my Social Security Card (yep, I got one!), but I could also use my W2 Form, a paycheck stub, Social Security Disbursement Form or a 1099 Form. That’s ADDITIONAL to the Birth Certificate. But wait, there’s more!
I also have to prove my residency. I have to bring at least two of the following: Deed to my home, Voter Registration Card, Vehicle Registration, current utility bills, mail from a Federal Agency, or a current Government License!
All of this is IN ADDITION to my proof of vehicle insurance, my current license and the possibility of an eye test, a driving test and/or a written test to prove that I know how to drive. (For the record, I have zero points on my license, have had zero tickets in the past 5 years, have had zero accidents in the past 5 years, and tend to drive like a grandparent!)
So, you may say: “THAT’S LIKE NAZI GERMANY! They’re demanding your papers, Komrade. You should be insulted. You should be outraged. How dare they?”
How dare they? I say “Kudos” for their courage! I say “Thank you” for doing their damn jobs! By doing this, they are protecting ME and YOU and EVERYONE ELSE from identity theft. And, yeah, if I were an “Illegal Trespasser,” I’d probably have a problem coming up with the necessary documents to get a Driver’s License in Florida, but you know what? THAT’S THEIR PROBLEM! If they’re here illegally, they deserve to go to jail. If they’re here illegally, THEY DESERVE to be sent home! The only people who should have a problem with the police doing their jobs are the ones who are criminals, and I have absolutely no sympathy for the hurt feelings of criminals.
So, go ahead. Ask me for my Papers! I’ve got NO PROBLEM with it.
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