U.S. Government demands new internal passport for citizens and it's giving off major dystopian vibes

A man sitting at a table examining passports, during a plague epidemic in Mandalay, Photograph, (1906) Public Domain

Starting May 7, 2025, I'll need a REAL ID to fly from Houston to New Orleans. Apparently, my current driver's license — you know, the one issued by my state government — isn't "real" enough anymore.

Remember when we used to mock totalitarian regimes for requiring "internal passports?" Now we get to mock ourselves! Thanks to bipartisan enthusiasm for trampling fundamental rights, this bureaucratic nightmare sailed through the House in 2005 with a 261-161 vote. After 20 years of delays, the federal government is finally ready to roll out this masterpiece of bureaucratic overreach.

To get one of you own, you'll have to prove your existence with an entertaining scavenger hunt of documents: original birth certificate, social security card, marriage license, and two proofs that you actually live where you say you live. I guess the gubmint thinks we're all just making up our addresses for fun or that we're all terrists.

Of course, all this personal information gets dumped into linked databases — "hacker bait," as security experts cheerfully call it. So your data will be available not just to Elon Musk, but to any teenager in Kyrgyzstan with dark web access.

As Zócalo Public Square warned in 2020, "REAL ID will make it easier for hackers and terrorists to steal our identities, and for governments and corporations to discriminate against us."

Of course, while every American needs this new super-ID for a domestic flight to Vegas, international travelers can breeze through with just their passports. Nothing says "national security" like making it harder for citizens to travel in their own country.

Proud moment for American freedom, isn't it?