There's a lot of resistance to creating an explicit National ID card.
There's also the Real ID act passed by Bush in 2005 (and whatever implementation and changes have been made in the 15 years since) that did create a national ID card (standards for driver's license and identification) that all states but Oregon and Oklahoma are compliant with.
I am one of the people that resist National ID, but at this point it would be better than the screwed up sysytem of using SSN and a hodgepodge and inaccurate Drivers Lic system for ID
Neither of which was ever really suppose to be for ID
SSN is for me to get my old age money, and Drivers Lic is for me to prove I can safely operate a car...
Extending them from their original purpose has lead to all kinds of problems
> but at this point it would be better than the screwed up sysytem of using SSN and a hodgepodge and inaccurate Drivers Lic system for ID
> Neither of which was ever really suppose to be for ID
State IDs (including Drivers Licenses, which are State IDs conjoined with permission to drive certain classes of vehicles on public roads) absolutely are intended as ID, and the function of drivers licenses as drivers licenses presupposes them functioning first as ID, since it can’t establish that you have permission to drive if it can't establish that you are the person it refers to.
The history of both has the ID functions of them added on after the fact.
Granted the ID functions of the state Drivers licenses were done a little better than the ID functions of the SSN being used for Tax ID purposes then for other ID Purposes largely because the adding the ID functions to Drivers Licenses was done by the same entity issuing the drivers licenses unlike SSA which resisted efforts to have SSN be an ID number
That said original drivers licensees simply had a Name and the fact you passed the test, there was zero ID component to them, this was added on later.
> The history of both has the ID functions of them added on after the fact.
Sure, the problem with your description is you are using “were never intended” for “were not originally intended”, which in the case of Driver’s Licenses is radically wrong; drivers licenses have been reengineered entirely around the need for a principal state-issued ID, expressly for the purpose of serving that purpose, which is why they are also the bases for non-driver IDs.
It also wasn’t that long ago the photo-less driver licenses were phased out in some states. My father had one with no photo on it up until 2004. Anyone could renew by mail, in which case there would not be a photo.
There's also the Real ID act passed by Bush in 2005 (and whatever implementation and changes have been made in the 15 years since) that did create a national ID card (standards for driver's license and identification) that all states but Oregon and Oklahoma are compliant with.
ACLU 5 reasons to not have national ID: https://www.aclu.org/other/5-problems-national-id-cards
Homeland Security Real ID: https://www.dhs.gov/real-id
Short timeline of US National ID (opinionated): https://www.endtime.com/articles-endtime-magazine/why-americ...