First: what makes the federal government believe that it can do a better job at organizing driver's licenses than individual states can. I mean, even in California there are "only" 35.5 million people, versus 290 million nationwide.
(source:
U.S. census, 2000).
Surely a smaller organization can do a better job keeping track of its applicants than a larger one. And for that matter, do you enjoy the thought of having to visit the United States Bureau of Motor Vehicles, or whatever they'd call it, every time your license expired? I mean, the lines at the DMV are already obscene... imagine if it was run by the federal government. And imagine how much more it would cost!
As for a national ID card. Well, you know what? I have one already. It is called the "Social Security Card", and every single taxpayer in the United States has one. And everyone is very afraid to give the number on it to anyone -- because it is a very powerful number. How would you like it if every time you tried to pay for groceries with a check or your MasterCard, the clerk said "Can I have your Social Security card please, just for I.D. verification." I think not!
Beyond the surface of this issue is a deeper one of State's Rights. The battle over State's Rights began long ago -- and was one of the issues at stake in the Civil War. Over the century and a half since then, we have continued along the trend towards a larger federal government. The federal government now has its hands in road building, public education, healthcare and health insurance, criminal prosecution, and now, it seems, driving. Whatever you think, you have to admit that this is not a direction the founders of this country would have recommended -- in fact, the overwhelming purpose of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights was to ensure that this did not happen. But, alas, people get what they want, and they want a sense of security more than anything else
I think I will end with a quote which I like very much, because I truly believe it.
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security -- Benjamin Franklin
(source: Wisdom Quotes)