That was Governor Brian Schweitzer's response to the "real i.d." program on behalf of Montana as he signed state legislation opposing the federal act. & if you think it might be just a turn of a phrase to say Gov. Schweitzer spoke for Montana, I offer the following (from the same link):
"Wiseman said getting support for his bill was an easy sale.
'Nobody in Montana thinks we should have this thing; so it became easy, there was never an argument and I never had to persuade anybody,' he said."
It gets better:
"The move means the state won’t comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law that sets a national standard for driver’s licenses and requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national databases."
(snip)
"The law says that the federally approved identification cards eventually would be necessary to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.
'We also don’t think that bureaucrats in Washington D.C. ought to tell us that if we’re going to get on a plane we have to carry their card, so when it’s scanned through they know where you went, when you got there and when you came home,' said Schweitzer, a Democrat."
I have the strangest feeling I'd be more likely to vote for a Montana Democrat than a NY, Cali or Mass. Republican.
"Montana's Schweitzer complained that the Real ID law is another way for the federal government to stomp on residents' personal privacy. 'Montanans don’t want the federal agents listening to their phone conversations, rifling through their papers, checking on what books they read and monitoring where they go and when. We think they ought to mind their own business,' he said in a written statement."
If only they'd drop their smoking ban nonsense...
Posted by Publicola at April 22, 2007 08:49 AM | TrackBack