In Revolution, Martin Anderson’s 1988 book about the Reagan revolution and about Marty’s role in things, Marty tells an interesting story about illegal immigration. On July 6, 1981, the Task Force on Immigration and Refugee Policy met in the White House. Marty was there. The Attorney General, William French Smith, presented his proposal for sanctions on employers who hired illegal aliens. He also proposed a national ID card so that employers would know who was legal and who wasn’t.
Marty was appalled.
He writes:
Such a card is an indispensable tool of a totalitarian state, for before a government can really begin to control your life it must know who you are and where you are, and it must be able to demand proof of your existence wherever it encounters you—applying for work, moving to another address, walking down the street. Without a national identification system, it is very difficult for a small number of people to control a large society. With one, it is much easier.
Marty then goes on to explain how having such a national ID would gradually become normal.
He notes that Smith made a flawless presentation and was persuading various members of the cabinet. Marty was sitting “a couple of feet behind the attorney general, in one of the soft leather seats along the back wall that were reserved for senior White House staff.”
When Reagan looked around the room for comments, there weren’t any. Marty did not want to be part of an administration that introduced a national ID card. And if he got fired for speaking up, oh well. So Marty broke an unwritten rule, raising his hand. Reagan noticed him and said, “Yes, Marty.”
Marty pointed out that such a card would cost several billion dollars. But that didn’t seem to bother people: “By that time a billion dollars or two didn’t bother anyone in the cabinet.” [DRH note: federal spending in FY1981 was $657 billion.]
So Marty took another tack:
“I would like to suggest another way that I think is a lot better. It’s a lot cheaper. It can’t be counterfeited. It’s very lightweight. It’s even waterproof.”
“All we have to do is tattoo an identification number on the inside of everybody’s arm.”
As Marty recounts, several people gasped and then there was a long silence. Then Interior Secretary James Watt spoke up:
“Why, it sounds to me as if you’re talking about the mark of the Beast. That’s terrible.”
Many of the people around the table looked perplexed. Reagan wasn’t. He recognized the Biblical reference to Revelation 13: 16-18.
Reagan looked directly at Smith and, smiling broadly, joked:
Maybe we should just brand all the babies.
That was the end of national ID cards for 1981.
Note: This is from the King James version of the Bible, the one I grew up with:
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
READER COMMENTS
Herb
Nov 20 2024 at 8:04pm
We almost have Smith’s proposal in action – a driver’s license & Real ID. Not everyone has one, but they are in the minority. By the way your cell phone knows your location.
steve
Nov 20 2024 at 8:43pm
Show me your papers comrade!
Steve
TMC
Nov 20 2024 at 9:01pm
Nobody tell them about Social Security numbers.
David Henderson
Nov 21 2024 at 1:51pm
Good point, TMC. I’m guessing you recognize, though, that it’s not all or nothing, but a matter of degree. Smith was proposing a further step and, as Craig notes in his comment, we have made a further step with Real ID.
Craig
Nov 20 2024 at 9:26pm
“That was the end of national ID cards for 1981.”
While I guess ‘real ID’ is state in some ways its getting close to being a national ID card. Anecdotal humor from the past election in FL where I brought my FL DL to vote. Part of the process has the voter sign something and then the poll worker compares signatures. Mine did not match. Of course I was signing the vote with a computer pad and a stylus and I had signed the DL with my index finger on a touch screen and the first time the similarity wasn’t enough, the second time the same and finally I said, “NEITHER way is how I actually sign my name” and she let me look at the signature on the DL as I signed my name so that I could try to scribble it as close as possible with the stylus as I had my index finger.
Monte
Nov 20 2024 at 11:50pm
Anderson dispatched the idea with delicious irony! He was obviously a very prudent and sagacious economist possessed of high moral intelligence and impeccable character. Thanks for the memory, David.
David Henderson
Nov 21 2024 at 1:50pm
You’re welcome, Monte.
gwern
Nov 21 2024 at 1:28pm
Did Ronald Reagan really not understand the reference to Nazis numbering Jews for concentration camps, or did he have some ulterior reason I’m not getting for choosing to misinterpret it as Christian apocalyptism?
David Henderson
Nov 21 2024 at 1:50pm
My guess is that he understood but jumped on the Jim Watt reference as a way of more gently letting his long-time friend and lawyer William French Smith off the hook. But that’s just my guess.
David Seltzer
Nov 21 2024 at 5:18pm
Gwern asked, “Did Ronald Reagan really not understand the reference to Nazis numbering Jews for concentration camps” I suspect he did understand the reference. On April 11th 1983 he gave a speech to the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. The video can be found on The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum website. The speech post-dated the July 6th 1981 task force meeting on immigration.
Pierre Lemieux
Nov 21 2024 at 2:07pm
That’s an important post, David. It is distressing that we, liberals and libertarians, have now lost this battle, over the past few or several decades, in the few countries where national ID had not been accepted, in law or in practice. We can imagine all the laws and regulations that could not be enforced, and would thus probably not have been adopted, if people like Anderson had been listened to. It is also interesting to note how, in the United States, practically compulsory ID cards have been adopted with few people noticing it–or is it that most people don’t care anymore?
David Seltzer
Nov 21 2024 at 5:32pm
Pierre, I share your concern. I don’t know if people don’t care anymore or if it’s a bitter trade-off between having a social security number that is required for nearly everything an individual wants or not having one. Not having a social security number makes it nearly impossible to get credit, insurance, licenses, certifications, degrees, employment, medical attention…ad nauseam. The state doesn’t have to tattoo numbers on arms. They just assign it to individuals at birth.
David Seltzer
Nov 21 2024 at 5:33pm
David, nicely done!
David Henderson
Nov 21 2024 at 7:31pm
Thanks, David.
R R Schoettker
Nov 22 2024 at 8:46am
It is very clear what kind of country the 21st century US is and that it is well and truly heading to the same end that those other countries that previously instituted such measures wound up at. By their fruits shall ye know them.