The Several States have a degree of sovereignty that is incompatible with centralized national ID. One solution is to standardize the format, so that cooperatio

The Several States have a degree of sovereignty that is incompatible with centralized national ID. One solution is to standardize the format, so that cooperation like this is more seamless without being imposed from on high; that's a strategy that has worked well for other things. Also here in Canada, we too have separate ID for each province and territory, and separate health insurance ID too. I think given the current political climate, where the far left is generally critical of the concept of citizenship altogether (see current proposals to allow non-citizen voting in federal elections, decriminalize illegal border crossings, etc.), the opposition of just that one political subculture would be enough to scuttle any attempt. Add on to that the concerns of lawful gun owners, ordinary people who do not want to be identified to the Federal government except for the purposes of taxes and social security, and the huge number of people who are basically okay with the status quo (myself included), and national ID looks like a non-starter.