Aren passports and drivers licenses sufficient?
A major argument against a national ID card is that there are already sufficient systems in place to provide secure identification, namely passports and driver’s licenses. Proponents of a national ID card, however, argue that passports and driver’s licenses are special purpose documents and cannot and should not assume the position of an all purpose ID document. Driver’s licenses are not available to everyone and current passports are bulky and tailored to being a travel document. Still, especially in the face of the high costs incurred by a national ID card system, the money may be more wisely spent improving the existing infrastructure instead of adding a whole new infrastructure. Special driver’s licenses could be issued for non-drivers, and passports could be made more convenient to be acceptable for everyday use.
