re: #131 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I try to explain the immigration and electoral system to Germans and they cannot grasp the nuances: Here everyone has an ID for citizens and one for legal residents and a registered address.

You need to present that ID and registered address to sign a lease or employment contract, open a bank account, enroll children in school, apply for social services, etc.

And wherever you are registered (as a citizen) you are automatically on the voter rolls, you just have to show up with your ID and vote and that is that, they check you off the list.

When I explain the patchwork system of ID that we have in the USA and the fact that once you make it into the country undocumented you can just blend into an immigrant community, they are dumbfounded at how any modern nation could allow such “chaos”…

Sounds great, I’d be on board, but most on the right would be like OMG national ID gubmint tracking and overreach!!!

And most on the left would be like OMG national ID denying services too millions of undocumented immigrants pushing them into the shadows where employers and landlords will exploit them!