National ID Card? Think Social Security

I have a federally issued identification card. I need it for nearly everything; loans and credit, housing, employment, education, government services, and etcetera. It is a nine digit number printed on a flimsy piece of paper, an antiquated federal issue.

My credit card is plastic and durable, uses six more digits (mathematically adding protection) with a four digit security code unique to every printed card, it has a computer chip embedded within, and 24-7 phone-support to report theft or loss while mailing a new one within a week, free of charge.

In a world of computer networks expanding on a global scale, hackers and crooks are feasting on credit companies that absorb endless 'small' losses (meaning thousands of dollars and the identity theft's victim). An industry is allowed to bury consumers in 30% interest charges and endless incredulous fees. Credit companies and crooks are making money but American savings have fallen to levels not seen since the Great Depression (negative 1%).

All this with private companies actively working against fraud but naturally pushing their losses onto consumers in a laissez-faire atmosphere. Free trade means fair trade; a democratic free-market government enforcing state currency must protect the rights of citizens when writing the rules for barter.

My social security number is held is numerous data-banks because of the necessities in life. It is the key to my identity as far as the federal government is concerned. Yet it's a printed number on a flimsy piece of paper.

There's a line from The West Wing I find comparable: "If it was up to the NIH to cure polio through a centrally directed program, instead of an independent investigator-driven discovery, you'd have the best iron lung in the world but not a polio vaccine!"