DMV officials issued driver’s licenses for cash. Why will REAL ID be any different?

In New York, several employees of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) were recently caught doing the one thing at which government drones seem efficient: corruptly profiting from their positions. They weren’t alone in selling driver’s licenses to ineligible customers; similar stories frequently appear around the country wherever public workers see a way to make a few bucks by providing official identification documents, often in fake names, to anybody with cash in hand. As common as the practice is, it’s an interesting commentary on the long-delayed recent introduction of REAL ID requirements, which are supposed to make us more secure.

Sure, they will. Except for that part about workarounds being for sale to all-comers at reasonable prices.

via reason.com

LWJ’s Real ID finally came in the mail. I’ll spare you the details of the unbelievable hoops she had to jump through, many of them stemming from the choice she unwisely made when she was a mere 10 years old to start spelling her name Jeanne instead of Jean. She did this because she had been mistaken for a boy during a stay at the hospital. Good thing I suppose she was not a child today, as she might have been rushed into gender reassignment, taken away from her uncomprehending parents, and ended up as a Democrat. Small blessings.