Has anyone else noticed that the need for identification has gone rampant these days? Sure it's necessary to make sure the person you're dealing with is who they say they are, what with all these criminal minds out there stealing other people information, but still....
Just recently I had the misfortune of losing social security cards for myself and my daughters. I know they aren't out on the street somewhere, but still, they had to be replaced. The last time I had to replace mine, four years ago when I got married, I simply took in a copy of my driver's license, my old card and the marriage license and it was done. When I got the first card for my daughters, I simply showed the agent their birth certificates and MY ID, and it was done.
No such luck this time! With the growing advances in printing technology the Social Security Administration can't even trust a birth certificate when they see one!!? I've always thought that a birth certificate was certifiable proof that you were a resident of the country you were born in. Not so much anymore!
Instead, they require a piece of mail from a school that's delivered to your home address, a copy of an immunization record from the person's doctor or health department, or a SEALED transcript of grades from whatever school you happen to be going to.
While I understand the possibility that birth certificates can be faked, isn't it even more easy to fake the above necessary documents? Think about it!
If you live at an address for over six months, you can receive mail from school. That doesn't prove you were born in the US. But it does prove you live where you say you live. (not exactly what was in question in the first place!)
If you take your kids to the local health department to get shots, and you have a birth certificate to prove that the kid is yours, but where they were born is not a factor. (And on top of that, if the birth certificate was fake in the first place, who's to know?? It's like the SSA is saying, "Well, if the health department accepted it, that's good enough for us." What if they were wrong? Now the problem is even more compounded.)
If you are going to public school, you have a school transcript. It's a simple matter to call up the school administration office and tell them you need a copy mailed to your home. Once again, birth location is irrelevant! You have to show a birth certificate to get into school... but once more, what if it's fake?
Am I missing something here? To me this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. They want you to get proof of being a US citizen from locations that are far easier to buffalo with a fake certificate than the SSA!
I understand the necessity of insuring that only those people that are allowed to have the cards get them. The number of fake social security numbers used to defraud the IRS is unbelievable, so requiring proof of citizenship is necessary. But isn't it just asking for more trouble when you make it harder on the average LEGAL citizen of the US to get one?
Maybe I shouldn't gripe. This is all done for the safety and security of our nation as a whole. But the amount of loopholes in their theory of being more safe boggles my mind. And truthfully, it makes me wonder exactly how safe my identity and moreso the identity of my kids really is!
Scary if you stop and think about it!
Dragon Lady
10 years ago
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