Note from Claire: When Patty wrote this in response to all the news about various federal ID requirements (which has finally hit the mainstream media, two years after the laws were passed!) she said she thought it was "just another blast from Brat Central." However, this one has struck a chord. She says the response has been so enthusiastic it's almost been scary.

By the power vested in me as one of We the People, without whose consent this country cannot possibly be governed, I hereby declare that what this country really needs is a permanent identification number for all politicians, of all levels of government from the President down to "local" school boards, including the millions of unelected bureaucrats. All "public servants" from Cabinet members to federal agents of all the hordes of federal agencies, to judges and prosecutors, governors, mayors, country administrators, down to the local police and dog catchers shall be issued a permanent identification number as soon as they take their oath of office and begin work.

This permanent identification number can be used to track all of these politicans and bureaucrats' actions, since they will not be able to do ANYTHING without that number. We will be able to tally their votes, their performance of the work we hired them to do, in fact, every action taken by our "public servants" will be open to the view of the public. We should be able to see their bank accounts, their medical histories, times they went to see a shrink, how many visits to the local red light district, phone calls to their bookies, every time they file a memo, write a regulation, conceive of legislation, attempt some obsfucation, stop a car for a traffic violation, go to the pharmacy for medication (OK, enough alliteration)--ALL actions will require the use of their permanent identification number.

Every financial transaction will be open and public knowledge. Since billions of dollars disappear from various offical budgets every year, in every federal agency, and probably in many state and local agencies as well, ALL financial transactions of "public servants"-- in their offical capacity as our hired help, AND in their private lives, will be made public. Thus we will be able to track the transfer of our money to their pockets, which is no doubt what happens to those billions of dollars that "go missing" every year, as reported again and again by the Government Accounting Office.

Every single action taken by a "public servant," official or private business, will be tracked, noted, and the data entered into a database kept open to the public. We the People, who pay for all this "government," need to be able to see exactly what transpires when an IRS agent seizes someone's house. We'll be able to note when the home was taken, for what purposes, when it was auctioned, and where the money went. Whenever a EPA bureaucrat attempts to regulate private property out of existence, we'll know, since our "public servants" will be unable to function at all without using their permanent identification number. Whenever one of the myriads of Monica Lewinsky's goes to the White House, she'll have to use her number to even get through the door. This data will be automatically sent to the database. The technology already exists, as we know because our "public servants" have expressed their fervent and demented desire to use it on US. This database shall be accessible to all Americans on the Web. Suggestions as to how to set up the webpages are welcome.

I believe this is an idea whose time has come. As an ordinary citizen, there is absolutely no reason for me to have a national permanent ID number. Who cares what I do or don't do? Who should care, besides me and mine? However, it seems to me to be essential that in order for citizens to be properly vigilant concerning the actions of our "public servants," and to act responsibily upon the knowledge that vigilance will bring, that ALL of our "public servants" must henceforth receive a permanent identification number that they will agree to use for every action they take, official or private, if they wish to work for us. It is a way to ensure accountability of our "public servants"--something sorely lacking in our current form of government.

If they have no wish to work for us, fine. They remain private citizens, and thus need not be accountable except in the usual ways private citizens must be accountable in their personal and business lives. Once they retire from public life, their number retires as well.

What do you say, folks? Anyone like this idea besides me?

(c) 1998 by Patricia Neill