Get Yer Passports Out!

[LadyJeanne]

It's not consistency for the sake of consistency. It's closing a loophole that shouldn't have been there in the first place, in my view.

I don't mind showing my passport when I return from Europe, so it makes no difference to me if I have to show my passport when returning from the Caribbean either.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Personally, I've always liked the laissez faire attitude the US has with its borders. You could shoot down to Mexico for lunch or into Canada for whiskey, no questions asked.

My beef about this is that once you require everyone to have a passport to get in to the country, it'll be pretty easy to demand that they have one to get out of the country too. And there you go: a captive population who's totally dependent on the government's good will and co-operation to get out of their own country.

I'm old enough to remember when Canada was a haven for a number of us who didn't want to go fight and die for Lyndon Johnson's Viet Nam mistake. Next time the draft comes along, think we'll still have that option? Or will passports for 18 years olds be subject to special revue?

What if you're a felon? Can you get a passport then? Maybe you got caught with some dope or driving drunk (a felony now in some states), can you still get a passport? What if you owe the IRS money? What if you're a flaming liberal?

It's just another nibble. Never a big bite. Just nibble, nibble, nibble.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Doc, I'd say many of those restrictions are already in place. If you fly out of the US, the airlines don't let you board without a passport, even if you're going to Mexico. Driving may be a different matter in the San Diego/Tijuana instance, but I went to Cancun a few months ago and a passport was required for my flight as well as for Mexico's customs process.

Countries with restrictions on who they let in will demand to see your passport even if you've made it out of the US without showing one.

Canada requires some proof of US citizenship - if you're that 18 year old dodging the draft, they can just as easily turn you away with a birth certificate as with a passport.

The other items you mentioned are potential restrictions on getting a passport in the first place. I don't know what those are, but I haven't heard that they're making any changes to the regulations on obtaining one.

 

[impressive]

Clearly consistency has nothing to do with the fundamental right or wrong of an action.

And I never said it did. It is, however, even-handed.

Now, as to whether it's consistently TREATING or MISTREATING people is another argument altogether -- which I was trying not to step in.

 

[shereads]

I always carry one anyway. Ever since the incident with the spliff and the car-search, I've enjoyed the false sense of security that comes from carrying proof that I exist.

 

[shereads]

Personally, I've always liked the laissez faire attitude the US has with its borders. You could shoot down to Mexico for lunch or into Canada for whiskey, no questions asked.

That hasn't changed. You just have to cross a different border.

Months after 9/11, some gentlemen newly arrived from Cuba turned themselves in at the police station in Key West, apologized for not having done so right away, and explained that they'd been wandering around town for a few hours wondering where the best place would be to request asylum. Fortunately, Cuban refugees don't come here to blow us up. "Cuban Refugee" would be a good disguise for someone who might blow us up, like the Haitians that Ashcroft was so suspicious of that he countermanded an order from the INS that cleared them to be released to sponsors.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had spent $200 billion to secure our borders instead of opening Iraq's?

 

[Likes_Them_Kinky]

With luck, in three years I will qualify for one of those Canadian passports, and may then, more easily travel to another country for a visit. The more news from my old home that I read, the less likely it becomes that any early trips will be to my hometown, state, or country of origin.

You have to remember… When you get your Canadian Passport, inside it is will state your place of birth:- City/Country

 

[Likes_Them_Kinky]

Eh, I dunno. What's the big deal? I always take my passport with me when I travel. I like the little stamps they put on it at the port (airport) of entry.

I'm far more concerned about the government looking into people's medical records and book-buying habits than I am about showing proof of citizenship of one kind or another to get back into the US.

Why the angst about passports?

What she said…. “What’s the big deal...Why the angst about passports” If you travel you need a passport to get in and out and out of a foreign country.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

You have to remember… When you get your Canadian Passport, inside it is will state your place of birth:- City/Country

I did not say anything about changing my history — just my citizenship.

That, and I won't soon be testing Thomas Hardy's postulation.