4 ms·

Precisely. You can’t make something a prerequisite to voting if every voter doesn’t have it. And the US is very much against the concept of a national ID. So

Precisely. You can’t make something a prerequisite to voting if every voter doesn’t have it. And the US is very much against the concept of a national ID. So you can’t have a national ID requirement. And as another commenter points out, it’s not that an ID requirement is racist, it’s that the motivations for it, knowing its impact, are racist.

hef19898 4y ago
Man, the US is such a strange place. It is also the only country I know of, top of my head, that doesn't have national ID requirements. No idea why this can be seen as bad thing.
- hamburglar 4y ago
  Yeah, I don’t completely get this one either, but the way we are raised is that national ID is somehow a slippery slope towards federal agents wandering the street demanding “papers, please.” Interestingly enough, the intersection between those who would advocate for national voter ID requirements and those who would fundamentally oppose a national ID is very large.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  It's fundamental to the country. We are a federal republic of states, and as such the real power lies with the states. The feds get the nukes, sure, but culturally we are reluctant to hand more power to the central government of a nation of 330 million people.
- mulmen 4y ago
  Too much power in too few hands. Compare the US to the EU. The US is over 4.5x the population of Germany, the largest EU member. The entire EU is only about 25% more people than the US. California alone is larger than all but four of the EU member nations. The US Federal Government is more like the EU itself rather than any member country. The states are more analogous to the countries in the EU. So a US National ID is kind of like a EU Citizen ID. What we have instead is an agreement between states and the federal government on ID guidelines. From that perspective it’s not so different.

hef19898 4y ago

Man, the US is such a strange place. It is also the only country I know of, top of my head, that doesn't have national ID requirements. No idea why this can be seen as bad thing.

hamburglar 4y ago
Yeah, I don’t completely get this one either, but the way we are raised is that national ID is somehow a slippery slope towards federal agents wandering the street demanding “papers, please.” Interestingly enough, the intersection between those who would advocate for national voter ID requirements and those who would fundamentally oppose a national ID is very large.
rootusrootus 4y ago
It's fundamental to the country. We are a federal republic of states, and as such the real power lies with the states. The feds get the nukes, sure, but culturally we are reluctant to hand more power to the central government of a nation of 330 million people.
mulmen 4y ago
Too much power in too few hands. Compare the US to the EU. The US is over 4.5x the population of Germany, the largest EU member. The entire EU is only about 25% more people than the US. California alone is larger than all but four of the EU member nations. The US Federal Government is more like the EU itself rather than any member country. The states are more analogous to the countries in the EU. So a US National ID is kind of like a EU Citizen ID. What we have instead is an agreement between states and the federal government on ID guidelines. From that perspective it’s not so different.