Dressed down, not dressed up

"My only counsel to my true believing friends on the Right side of the street is this - is this a hill worth dying for?"

For those who know me, ever since I have retired I have a different dress code. After wearing suits for years, and then business casual after that, I now prefer to wear sweat pants and vests. I guess one could say that is my uniform of the day. Okay, so I don't dress up very often. That being said, I am somewhat unaccustomed to getting dressed down. And yesterday, I got dressed down a bit.

Who would dress down a kindly old Bird like myself? A couple of fiends who happened to be at the Real ID hearings in St. Paul. I made a comment on social media, somewhat tongue in cheek, that we should not even consider passing Real ID unless we have it hooked to Voter ID legislation. Why would I say such an insipid thing like that? Because I am still smarting after Voter ID being voted down. I still believe that Voter ID is a MUST in Minnesota to prevent voter fraud.

In any event, my two friends did not think I understood the nuances of the Real ID issue. Trust me, I do - and have for quite a while. Now a bit of disclosure. Real ID does not affect me. Not because I will never visit an airport again. As retired military, my wife and I have federal IDs which work the same way Real ID does. That being said, I also understand the state's rights issue on not having this federal mandate in Minnesota.

I was one of the voices crying for nullification on the health premium fix. Rather than a band aide approach of giving a bunch of people $300M in insurance premium rebates, my vote was just to no longer participate in this unconstitutional health plan. As we know, constitutional minded folks understand the battle cry of "Nullification!" quite well. Real ID is the same thing. Just don't play. Drop it. If it means you will be turned down at airports without one, either don't fly, or get a passport. 

Once again to conflate the Real ID and Voter ID issues. The Left hated Voter ID as it would lead to "voter suppression".  I know, I called BS on that one also. Part of the voter suppression argument was it cost money to get an ID. Even though the bill's sponsors were willing to make ID's free to those who could not afford them. Well, guess what? A Real ID cost an additional $15. Are we going to get help to pay for that? I really doubt it.

My only counsel to my true believing friends on the Right side of the street is this - is this a hill worth dying for? How much political capital are we willing to spend on this one issue? There are bigger fish in this stream, and I worry that Sunday liquor and Real ID are going to use up all our bait this session. 

Please - no hate mail on this one. Remember, I am just an old retired guy trotting around the house in sweat pants.