“Showing My Papers”

By William L. Garvin



Recently, I had occasion to travel to Southern California. Before I could board the plane, I had to show proper identification (driver’s license or passport) complete with photograph. When I tried to pick up my rental car, again they demanded that I show proper identification with a valid driver’s license. As I presented my credit card to check in to the hotel, I was again asked for additional proper identification. Needless to say, I again had to provide proper identification before boarding the aircraft for my return flight home.



Last year, while vacationing in Michigan, I had the misfortune to drive through a local speed trap. (I’m still pretty sure that the main reason I was pulled over was because our rental car had Texas license plates!) In any event, I had to provide my driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. Not only that, but I had to provide the local constable with twenty dollars in cash because I was from “out of state”!



Now I suppose that I could work up a good case of “righteous indignation” or I could hysterically proclaim that I was “offended” or even shriek that the Michigan law was “discriminatory.” The fact of the matter is that being able to prove that you are who you say you are is a daily occurrence in American life. In case you don’t know it, the number one white collar crime in America is identity theft. I am actually thankful for the daily annoyance when I am asked for my identification before I can use my credit card. I lament the fact that our society has deteriorated to the point that such caution is necessary, but I appreciate the care exhibited by the merchant. And if standing in a boarding line for a few extra minutes while my identity is verified keeps a terrorist at bay, I think it’s a very small price for me to pay.



I think it is also worth considering what would have happened if I had traveled a couple of hundred miles farther south into Mexico. What would have been the consequences in any of the aforementioned situations if I had not been able to provide the “proper documentation”? How would I have been treated by their officials? What would have been the results? Now consider the possibility that I had broken a law and then was unable to prove my status. Luckily, that was never an issue since I took the Kingston Trio’s warnings about the “Tijuana Jail” seriously and have never been without “my papers” or a friend to “go my bail.” In fact, I have entered and exited Mexico legally dozens of times over the years and have always scrupulously avoided incurring the wrath of the federales. I think that’s my responsibility as a “global citizen.” I wish that was a reciprocated Mexican norm but we know that it is not.



Shifting eastward to the Gulf of Mexico, can Louisiana possibly survive? Obviously, the fishing industry is totally decimated. Strike one. Then the President declares a six month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf and somewhere between forty and sixty thousand Louisianans become unemployed for that length of time. Strike two. Then the totally ineffectual containment effort of the oil spill destroys the summer tourism season. Strike three.



To be sure, the President bears no responsibility for capping the leak. That’s all BP. In fact, government has absolutely no ability or qualifications to cap the leak. The containment effort is a different story. When the Dutch in Week One offered four of their skimmers to aid in the oil recovery effort, why are they still waiting in Week Eight? Why hasn’t the President cleared the way? Why are there warehouses of unused booms still sitting in Maine when oil is seeping onto the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida? Why wasn’t the burn plan ever executed? Why upon why?



When Governor Jindal of Louisiana asked to build twenty-four sand berms, the EPA (after weeks of delay) initially approved six but said they would only pay for one, where was the President? Why isn’t the Gulf the world’s largest test tube? Yes we know this is an ecological disaster of huge proportions but there are thousands of creative, imaginative Americans willing to pitch in and help. Why haven’t these folks been given sections of threatened Gulf coasts to apply their ideas, their genius, and their creations? That is part of the fabric of the American tapestry. That is part of the fabric of leadership. Kevin Costner has invested $24 million of his personal fortune in developing machinery that will separate oil from water. Why haven’t his machines been deployed? It’s a failure of leadership.



On the good side, the twenty dollars to the Michigan constable was applied to my fine!