In RevolutionMartin Anderson’s 1988 book about the Reagan Revolution and Marty’s role in it, Marty tells an interesting story about illegal immigration. On July 6, 1981, the Task Force on Immigration and Refugee Policy met at the White House. Marty was there. Attorney General William French Smith presented his proposal for sanctions against employers who hired illegal aliens. He also proposed a national identification card so that employers would know who was legal and who was not.
Marty was shocked.
He writes:
Such a map is an indispensable tool of a totalitarian state, because before a government can truly begin to control your life, it must know who you are and where you are, and must be able to demand proof of your existence, where you also encounter. apply for a job, move to another address, walk down the street. Without a national identification system, it is very difficult for a small number of people to control a large society. It’s much easier with one.
Marty then explains how having such a national ID would gradually become normal.
He notes that Smith delivered an impeccable presentation and convinced several members of the cabinet. Marty sat “a few feet behind the attorney general, in one of the plush leather chairs along the back wall reserved for senior White House staff.”
When Reagan looked around the room for comments, there were none. Marty did not want to be part of a government that introduced a national ID card. And if he gets fired for speaking out, oh well. So Marty broke an unwritten rule by raising his hand. Reagan noticed him and said, “Yes, Marty.”
Marty pointed out that such a card would cost several billion dollars. But that didn’t seem to bother people: “By then, no one in the cabinet was bothered by a billion dollars.” [DRH note: federal spending in FY1981 was $657 billion.]
So Marty took a different tack:
“I would like to suggest another way that I think is a lot better. It’s a lot cheaper. It cannot be counterfeited. It’s very light. It’s even waterproof.”
“All we have to do is tattoo an identification number on the inside of everyone’s arm.”
As Marty tells it, several people gasped, and then there was a long silence. Then Home Secretary James Watt spoke:
“Well, it seems to me like you’re talking about the mark of the Beast. That’s terrible.”
Many people around the table looked bewildered. Reagan wasn’t. He recognized the Biblical reference to Revelation 13:16-18.
Reagan looked straight at Smith and, smiling broadly, joked:
Maybe we should just brand all babies.
That was the end of national identity cards before 1981.
Remark: This is from the King James version of the Bible, the one I grew up with:
16 And He causes everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark in their right hand or on their foreheads. 17 And that no man might buy or sell, except he who had the mark. or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.