Real ID is High Priority Part of National Security Solution

Geez! All this crying and whining about Real ID makes me want to offer the complainers a replay of the 9/11 tapes.
If another incident occurred, like a hijacking, that could have been prevented with Real ID, who do you think would be the first whiners in line to complain?
Right!
Let's get this right. We are a free and open society; that doesn't mean that we have to offer terrorists or their new, non-Muslim recruits an easy entry into the U.S. or on board planes, ferries and trains.
More, I hope the new Real ID standards include biometric as well as visual ID standards. I want the person who offers the ID to be able to be 100% verified through that ID use. This means fingerprints, photo, even retinal scan and eventually, DNA verification. The technology is coming, and we should use it for our security.
Privacy concerns only matter if government uses the information to..what? Silence dissidents? Not in this country.
Track down people who own guns? Fat chance - No army could conquer 200,000,000 gun owners, and no citizen-based, volunteer army would even try. Monitor citizen movements? Only those that could or would aid nefarious purposes.
So let's make sure the safeguards against improper use of the Real ID database are installed, but let's not interfere with the goal of keeping those who would harm our national interests away from this country.
I'm as nervous as the next person about government intrusion, and the loss of privacy. I also don't want my son or daughter, or grandchildren to be on a bus or train or plane that gets bombed out of existence, or killed by dirty bomb fallout, or by poison gas.
We are already behind in identifying and capturing the terrorist cells that are here. Some government agency "high confidence" estimates are that over thirty cells are operating: medium confidence that there are close to fifty. High confidence that there are over 100 "sleepers" in place; in educational institutions, in sensitive government and research jobs.
And we can do this.
I hate the idea that hundreds of Billions (that's Billions with a big "B" folks!) of dollars have already been spent on security and that much more will be spent just in less than the next ten years. That money could go to education, or health insurance tax breaks, or...or...
But, I do believe that the forces of evil are planning things worse that we can imagine, and soon.
Real ID is only a very important part of the solution, but a priority nevertheless.
The states don't want to pay for another federal mandate, and I don't blame them. National security is a constitutionally-driven government mandate("provide for the common defense"), and should be paid for that way.
What I think is we should skip the state driver's license requirements and go straight to a National ID card, paid for by the government through Homeland Security reimbursement to the states for managing the process. The states in turn could use the Real ID as the supporting document for Driver's Licenses, or other ID issuance and verification.

Real ID could be verified and issued through appropriately trained U.S. Post offices (the ones that do Passports), Police and Sheriff Departments that have been trained in fingerprint and document verification, State Department offices, and more.
For Real ID, including biometric, to mean anything, it must have the highest standards of proof and verification. Anything less just opens the door to fraud and defeats the purpose. So, whiners and complainers, start thinking personal and family safety, rather than inconvenience; start thinking of ways to enhance our security, not dilute it; start thinking of cooperation, not confrontation.
Make sure that those we elect have the same goals in mind.