Escape From New Mexico Costs $100 Extra

One of the things I've always liked about living in New Mexico is how convenient it is for business travel. I can hop on a plane and get to many of our nation's largest metros within three hours. Well, shortly after the New Year, it looks like it is going to cost me an extra $100 if I want to avoid being quarantined to New Mexico:

"The way it is right now, come Jan. 1st, residents of New Mexico and residents of about 25 other states wouldn't be allowed to board airplanes unless they had a valid passport."

And, why is this?

The biggest issue is that New Mexico gives driver's licenses to foreign nationals and illegal immigrants, which under the new law, would be illegal.

So, because our state government thinks it is important to make New Mexico a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants, I have to pay $100 extra if I want to travel freely in my own country. Yeah, that makes sense. Oh, I know some of you want to blame it on the Bush Administration for pushing the Real ID Law. For the record, I was not a fan of the expansion of a police state then any more than I am now. But, they've been gone for almost a year, so the new administration is just as much to blame for pushing this expansion of government and the resulting new tax on citizens.



And, that is exactly what it is - a new tax. Any time a government decision requires you to fork over more money to comply, it is a new tax. What really irks me is that no one at the state or federal level seems to care that this is going to cost me both a significant amount of time and money:

"Right now it's a game of chicken, between the federal government and the state governments," [New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Secretary Rick] Homans said.

A game of chicken? That's the game where two people in moving vehicles come right at one another and see which one swerves out of the way first, right? Well, it's really easy for state and federal government to play chicken with one another when the taxpayer/traveler is the one driving both cars. Nothing like taxpayer pain for bureaucratic amusement.

So, the states and the feds can't get on the same page to allow law-abiding citizens to travel freely within our national borders. Now, what do you think is going to happen when we have nationalized healthcare?

45 Day Identity Theft Window

Ok, a simple question... what did we, the citizens of New Mexico do to deserve this:

New Mexico began converting this week to new, high-tech driver's licenses and identification cards that state officials say will provide more protection from identity theft.

For the first time, applicants won't leave MVD counters with their new licenses, but rather with temporary, paper licenses good for 45 days. Permanent licenses— which will be produced in another state— will be sent by mail and should arrive within a couple of weeks, officials said.

This is the way the system will work from now on.

Your kidding me, right? From now on you will have to carry a paper license for 45 days while you are waiting for your license to be produced in another state? That's absurd. I've had drivers licenses in my life from five different states and in two different countries and have never, NEVER had to wait forty-five days to receive it. In fact, I've always walked out of the office with my license.

Explain to me which brilliant person at the state level decided this was a good idea. If anything this is going to promote more identity theft, not reduce it. Predators now have 45 days to walk around with a duplicable paper license. Everyday citizens have to carry two pieces of identification instead of one:

Driver's license applicants who leave the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division clutching a piece of paper bearing a black-and-white temporary license may wonder who's going to believe them.

Take heart, says Taxation and Revenue Secretary Rick Homans.

He flew to Boston over the weekend and says he had no problem proving his identity at airline security checkpoints.

"The combination of my temporary license and my old license worked just fine," said Homans, whose agency oversees the Motor Vehicle Division. He was among the first to get a new license.

Great, because he didn't have a problem flying into one airport with one set of TSA officers, he assumes everyone is going to process them the same way. Sorry folks, I zig zag across the country all the time and find that more often than not my experience varies from airport to airport.

Plus, what happens to the poor soul who goes to the MVD to get a replacement license for one that was lost or stolen? Exactly, how are they supposed to convince everyone that the black and white temporary copy is a real license. Couldn't anyone now make a temporary license and pretend to be someone they are not.

This is a disaster waiting to happen. I hope this is simply another example of governmental incompetence. I hope no one uncovers this decision was made because of a political contribution. That would be bad.