Posted on November 06, 2015
Last week, I came face to face with another unnecessary burden governments place on citizens, and saw the wasted efforts of skilled public employees.
My 17-year-old son lost his Florida drivers license. He could request a replacement license for $27 on line at www.GoRenew.com, but it takes up to two weeks. Florida law requires him to have a license whenever he drives. The website recommends obtaining a replacement drivers license in person. My son and his mother waited in line for three hours! It took even more time to research the regulations and collect required documents.
Natural Governance’s National Registry could save all this wasted effort. The National Registry makes drivers licenses, pilots licenses, passports, voting registration cards, and many other documents superfluous. If people wish to verify their identity, they simply give their name, Discrete Identifier, or Social Security Number. They then put their thumb on a computer, which accesses the National Registry, and confirms or denies the identity. Why do we accept such burdensome regulations and waste when an alternative could be available? The full answer is complicated.
Since the 1930s Great Depression, the U.S. Government spent lots of money stimulating the economy, creating two beneficial results—more middleclass jobs and avoiding a second Great Depression. Many jobs in state departments’ of motor vehicles (DMV) would go the way of wagon wheel craftsmen if the National Registry were implemented. Governments could employ people for work that needs to be done, such as keeping irresponsible drivers off the road by controlling who drives, rather than creating unneeded jobs. When state DMV employees determine a person is authorized to drive, they simply make that entry into the National Registry. Likewise, if driving privileges are withdrawn or expire, that fact could be entered into the National Registry. Drivers licenses would not even be needed, because a highway patrol officer could simply use a computer to determine if the person had driving privileges. People could obtain Abstracts (cards similar to drivers licenses that obtained specified information contained in the National Registry) if they found doing so convenient, but should not be required to have them.
State DMV employees may be burdened with wasteful procedures, but their wages do put money into the economy. Their lost jobs and wages could damage the economy. Natural Governance addresses this issue. When implemented, Tax Share Payments put money into the economy for citizens to spend as they wish. If the Federal Government placed the savings gained by eliminating unnecessary jobs into Tax Share Payments, there would be no damage to the economy. Reducing unneeded DMV employees is a small part of a large mosaic, but the National Registry offers immeasurable other benefits.