Originally posted by toneart
What's the problem? If it is or will be required, you must have it or the ID card. Sure it is used to track you. That is the age we live in. Big
Brother already knows your every move and it is cross referenced in so many ways that it renders a fear of tracking, when you cross the border, a moot
point.
I don't like being tracked either, but to resist getting the passport greatly isolates you. In isolation you can live smugly, in your "better than.."
attitude and write love letters to Pat Buchannan and Lou Dodds, but you would miss out on the rich cultures of the world. Of course, what you don't
know, you don't know! Ignorance is bliss, lazy and a cop out. By the way, I have had a passport for 50 years. All the renewals have many stamps. The
word "Passport" is just that...your pass into and out of ports.
It is true that your treatment is subject to the whim and mood of the individual ICE agent, but I have nothing to hide and if I get a rude one, which
rarely happens, it is because they are having a bad day...not me. True, they can cause you to have a bad day, but that depends on your mouth. Keep it
zipped and be respectful.
I have been sent to Secondary several times. I think all of them are because I tow a passenger trailer. Until I bought it a few years ago, I was never
sent to Secondary. Even so, the agents in Secondary have always been friendly and the search takes less than five minutes.
Now if I wanted to get really paranoid, I would worry about Homeland Security snatching me and rendering me to an undisclosed location, never to be
heard of again because of something I may have said in this forum. That is a possibility, projecting current trends by the Bush Administration, but we
are not there yet. I am a good American and so far, my opinions are protected by the First Amendment.
In conclusion, a passport is a facilitator and an ID that confirms that I am a free person, sanctioned by the government of The United States, to
travel wherever it is legal to do so, and be welcomed back home again.
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