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> This is America. We don't learn from examples abroad. So you're saying we won't therefore we shouldn't try? Somehow the Austrians and Hungarians and various

> This is America. We don't learn from examples abroad. So you're saying we won't therefore we shouldn't try? Somehow the Austrians and Hungarians and various Yugoslav republics and Latvia and Poland and Switzerland and basically every country in eastern and southern europe all can keep track of the people born within their borders even as the borders shifted but the US can't tell a black american? It just sounds like a very very weak argument to me.

jeffbee 5y ago
I think you're underestimating the intransigence of various American political constituencies. None of those jurisdictions you mentioned would even be the largest American state, much less as large as the whole nation. In America, because of federal powers, states representing a minority of citizens can stop the federal government from doing things that seem easy and reasonable. They can also stop other states from doing those things. So, for example, if California decided to have a universal mandatory identification program, a federal department of justice that had been installed by a minority of voters from other states could sue, in federal court, to stop it. Same goes for, God forbid, address registries, that are common and unremarkable feature of almost every European jurisdiction. We don't have them here, and we will probably never have them, at least not without a revolution or constitutional reform. If you want to know why Latvia has national ID cards and America doesn't, just imagine if there was a venue where Montenegro could sue Latvia to stop it from having them. That's the American system!
ajsnigrutin 5y ago
As someone born in yugoslavia, now in slovenia (I haven't moved, the country has), i can say that it's perfectly managable, and I have no idea how americans can't do it.

3 ms·

> This is America. We don't learn from examples abroad. So you're saying we won't therefore we shouldn't try? Somehow the Austrians and Hungarians and various

by betwixthewires 5y ago

jeffbee 5y ago
I think you're underestimating the intransigence of various American political constituencies. None of those jurisdictions you mentioned would even be the largest American state, much less as large as the whole nation. In America, because of federal powers, states representing a minority of citizens can stop the federal government from doing things that seem easy and reasonable. They can also stop other states from doing those things. So, for example, if California decided to have a universal mandatory identification program, a federal department of justice that had been installed by a minority of voters from other states could sue, in federal court, to stop it. Same goes for, God forbid, address registries, that are common and unremarkable feature of almost every European jurisdiction. We don't have them here, and we will probably never have them, at least not without a revolution or constitutional reform. If you want to know why Latvia has national ID cards and America doesn't, just imagine if there was a venue where Montenegro could sue Latvia to stop it from having them. That's the American system!
ajsnigrutin 5y ago
As someone born in yugoslavia, now in slovenia (I haven't moved, the country has), i can say that it's perfectly managable, and I have no idea how americans can't do it.