Reply #12: This is a situation where there is a conflict of two policies that don't blend easily. [View All]

[no_hypocrisy]

On one hand, the public policy behind registering drivers for licenses is to protect the public from anonymous, untrained operators who can be a menace to both drivers and pedestrians as well as themselves and their passengers. To deny a class of individuals a license would be to jeopardize society on the whole. And licenses are used (like it or not) as methods to monitor our whereabouts, our credit history, our employment, etc.

But on the other hand, by including a class of people who by virtue of their non-citizen status is giving/granting symbolically and legally the same privileges given to citizens which in turn erodes the status of being a citizen. And it elevates the non-citizen to a status that is less "illegal" and has the imprimatur of legitimacy of remaining in this country rather than transient temporary workers. They will have established themselves through drivers licenses which allows them to open bank accounts, obtain credit, etc. and of course, the next thing "nationalists" will be worried about is allowing them to assume citizenship without the ability to be at least bilingual, without knowing our system of government, or even knowing who George Washington is. The biggest elephant in the room is the fear that an incredibly large block of new voters will come on roll and how their numbers and influence will change the development of our society.

I see a collision course trying to reconcile these two public policies and I can only see that there will be a significant structural and internal change in our national identity no matter how it's resolved.