I call BS on this one. The author dismisses any criticism as ringing "hollow".
His entire plan depends on the integrity and competence of a government that has proven time and time again that it is incapable of either.
The fakes will be out before the politicians have finished bunching up behind the microphone for the photo op.

Nobody´s ever counterfeited a lotto ticket and claimed the prize,so the technology is there to make an ID card counterfeit proof.

Paying people under the table saves employers tons of money so an ID card wouldn´t fix that unless you had all kinds of workplace raids.Then the left cries about family separation.

National ID cards.
Might as well.
We´ve ceased being citizens long ago.
Disarm us, clothe and feed us, and tattoo bar codes across our foreheads to keep track of us.
Our government owns us.

#3, don´t forget shock collars with GPS tracking devices. ("elected" officials and their associates would be exempt,of course.)Wouldn´t a crime free society be worth it?

I heard someone say that the time for an armed revolution is when you still have arms.

We already have a pseudo national ID card. We call them driver´s liscenses. But states pass these things out along with all the other free stuff with no more proof than the applicant´s word. So how would a national ID card be any different?

The democrats would pass them out freely just as they have done with the ObamaPhone.

If you have ever had a Social Security card stolen, you will appreciate the national ID card idea. For the Social Security card is used as a de facto ID card...but it has no picture, no fingerprint and no safety features to keep others from using it.

There was a time when you could safely store your Social Security card in a safe deposit box. But now you must show it to get a job, renew your driver´s license, etc.

Then there is the silliness that the Social Security number can´t be used for identification. So health insurance companies create alternate 9 digit numbers, while Medicare adds a letter to the front or back of the Social Security number. Just do the national ID card and get rid of all this.

Everyone should watch a WW2 movie today..one that shows the Gestapo stopping and demanding "show me your papers".
What´s next? Not being allowed to leave your state without gov´t permission?
Gov´t tracking IF you do leave the state?
There is a "chip" in my new and improved passport.

So typical--instead of solving the problem of illegal immigration, the government wants to burden the vast majority who are not illegal. It´s exactly like the response to 9/11--searching little old ladies at the airport instead of finding and stopping Islamic terrorists.

Wait a minute. These same people have been telling us all along that we can´t require an ID card to vote, that it is racist and trying to suppress the minority vote. Now they are trying to tell us we have to have an National ID card to prove we are citizens. Typical hypocrits.

Point out to the libtards that a national id card sounds great as now we´ll have a good shot at curing voter fraud during elections since citizen eligible to vote will have one - they´ll drop the idea like a hot potato.

You know where I am on this one, as much as I hate being along similar lines with WaPo. Biometric is necessary, but not sufficient, however. Computer database corroboration is also required to suppress fraud. We already have the technology, as #2 points out. A Constitutional amendment is needed to safeguard against government and other abuse. We already have defacto "national IDs" in place, as #6 and #7 mentioned. These are poorly secured and easily compromised.

As to #1´s points: how can you selectively check "illegal resident" ID without profiling - which the courts will throw out? To avoid that and provide equal protection, it must be an "everyone or no one" proposition. It must be universal. With proper safeguards in place, national ID would have many benefits as well - fraud and ID theft prevention being among them. The whole point of the Constitution and its establishment of a federal government is to safeguard our liberty. As questionable as that government´s integrity and competence may be, it´s what we have. Arming up and hiding in the back country simply won´t get it done in the 21st century. The "other side" has the technology to find you and the advanced weapons to kill you. The only hope is to fix the system.

In the end, the real argument against a national ID is having a need or desire to hide.

Now that every man, woman, and child in the US are to be tracked by the IRS according to the HellCare Insurance mandate, Natioanl ID is coming.

Before any sort of amnesty is passed they must create an enhanced e-verify type employee verification system that employers must use to verify that their new employees are authorized to work in the USA. If they don´t do that, in a few years the liberal Democrats and their allies, the many very liberal ethnic and immigrant rights groups will be calling for another amnesty to cover new illegal alien arrivals before every future election.

The current e-verify system is incompetent to catch illegal alien impostors who are fraudulently using someone else´s social security card as the card only has a name and number type on it with no other identifiers.

I would use the social security card as a basis for conducting enhanced e-verify checks. However, I would re-issue the social security card in modern high-tech form to everybody, US citizens and legal aliens alike under age 55 who are authorized to work in the USA. The new card would contain a digital photograph of the bearer and other biometric identifiers that employers would be required to review to ensure that any cards presented to them by new employees are being presented by the rightful bearer and not an illegal alien impostor. The card would have electronic verification capability so that employers could instantly verify that the card is a valid card and that the bearer is authored to work in the USA.

Such a modern high-tech employee verification system, with secure issuing safeguards and effective enforcement, would keep most illegal aliens out of most US jobs worth them having. Once the word got out to the world that it is very hard for an illegal alien to get a US job, most prospective illegal aliens would think twice before coming here.

So now we know
WaPo is RACIST.
ID cards have only one purpose: denying blacks the right to vote.
A National ID card is Racist.
Al Sharpton told me so.

Boycott WaPo.
Wapo is RACIST!

The real opposition to a National ID is the desire of law-abiding, legal people to live one´s life free of government interference. There is already too much--the IRS, Social Security, the TSA and coming soon, Obamacare. There is already a good-enough national ID. It is called a social security card. Take the burden off the employers and have Homeland Security match up names and numbers and then go after violators and the number of illegals will go down.

I thought we had determined "never again" after the German Socialists gave us I.D. numbers tattooed on the forearms. Guess not.
And how soon is this foolproof (there is no such thing) system to be augmented by, say, a bar code tattooed in an inconspicuous part of the forehead? Or, perhaps in an effort to be less noticeable, one of those chips like are being implanted in pets, to be implanted in YOUR hand. For easy swiping at the bank, plane signin, entry into the school of your choice, or be sure you´re allowed to buy beer, cigarettes, foods that violate Moochelle´s food diktats etc?
How soon?
I know where this ends. Not going there. Surprised that so many others are.
The balance of power between the citizen and the State is way out of balance already. This makes it worse.

If "we" had the technology--and the will--for a non-foregable, national ID...there wouldn´t be an Identity Theft crime problem, would there???

FTA: THE UNITED STATES has invested tens of billions of dollars in the past decade alone to foil illegal immigration — tightening the border, accelerating deportations, deputizing local police —
Really?! Is this why police departments are not supposed to stop anyone to check for their illegality, why a new fence is authorized then promptly forgotten about because it isn´t funded. Why Zippy sues Arizona over their stop the illegals program? Snort. Honk. LOL.