I do. That's why it baffles me. It's so very irrational to me. I don't trust the government to get a lot of things right, but a simple ID system (even when poor

I do. That's why it baffles me. It's so very irrational to me. I don't trust the government to get a lot of things right, but a simple ID system (even when poorly implemented) can't be any worse than SSN as ID. Lots of significant things use an SSN as a key - medical records, tax information, credit history, financial accounts. An SSN is one of the identifying things that the government definitely has access to. They could easily strong-arm their way around different agencies/companies with an SSN, so protection from government (in my eyes) is a non-argument. A nationalized ID is supposed to protect us from unscrupulous 3rd parties. If you get someone's name and SSN, you can do a quick public records look up for an address. Confirm it with one company (say a cable co.) and you have unfettered access to that person's life. I don't think the government could actually do worse than SSN as ID. It's a pseudo-random number with the person's place of birth and time of birth as "seeds". I already assume that Uncle Sam has (or at least access to) troves of data on me. So can they do me a favor and at least give me a half-assed ID system?