Your new North American ID card: one element of the merger of the United States, Canada, and Mexico is an effort to create a common "North American" ID card.(ID CARD)

Beef cattle come down a loading chute leading into a slaughterhouse, mooing as they walk. Each steer has a yellow ear tag containing a radio frequency identification (RFID) device, which is scanned by a tag reader to assure that the proper animals are in the proper place.

The RFID system was promoted as a means to prevent the spread of animal diseases into the food-supply chain and to prevent bio-terrorism. But there were already adequate measures in place to stop diseased cattle from getting into the food chain, and many ways that the deviously minded would be able to circumvent the RFID system. Critics of the system pointed out that there must be some ulterior motive to the government's insistence on requiring such a tagging system, such as increased profits for importers of non-tagged foreign beef.

Now, in the name of national security, it's our turn to be "tagged."

It is true, of course, that America faces a serious terrorist threat. But instead of instituting commonsense, non-intrusive security measures, such as securing our borders so that terrorists cannot come here undetected, we are openly inviting unscreened foreigners across our borders. Any terrorist able to get into Canada or Mexico could then easily come here. Terrorists among us then serve as the rationale for monitoring the American people themselves through the use of a RFID national ID card.

Although having citizens "tagged" by the government won't likely mean wearing yellow plastic-coated appliances attached to our ears like for cattle, the similarity to the animal RFID ID system is striking. To begin with, just like the cattle tracking program, the national ID program is an ineffective "solution" to a problem that can be addressed in less intrusive ways.

"Your Papers, Please"

In May 2005, the federal government gave U.S. citizens de facto national ID cards. Title II of the Real ID Act calls for new federal standards in drivers' licenses. Unless states comply by May 2008, their citizens will not be able to enter federal buildings, board planes, collect Social Security payments, or establish accounts with national banks.