REAL ID
Monday April 28, 2025
Everyone in authority is telling people that as of May 7, 2025 you are required to get a REAL ID. This is NOT true. REAL ID is NOT mandatory. If you wish to fly domestically and you do not have a REAL ID you can fly using a passport or one of 15 listed alternatives. REAL ID is a federal ID. The drivers license we use today is issued by the state. They say it is to prevent terrorism and to insure only US citizens have licenses. This is yet another lie. I know people that have had a REAL ID mailed to their home without ever submitting any documentation to prove they are a US citizen. REAL ID was passed in 2005 (and we have survived nicely for over 20 years since the law was passed) under President Bush who also gave us the Patriot Act (written before 9/11 ever happened) and the PREP Act which allows big pharma, doctors and hospitals to kill us with total protection. REAL ID is a state issue and can be stopped at the state level. This is just another reason why passing our nullification process bill was so important. Believe me our elected know the power of this legislation and they also know it threatens their power so of course it must be stopped but if we have good legislators in office we can appeal to them at the state level to END REAL ID.
This is directly from the TN REAL ID website: The decision to get a REAL ID credential is completely up to you. It is not required for any other reason than to allow you to continue to fly domestically and access certain federal facilities after May 7, 2025. For example, you may decide to not get a REAL ID if you already have a passport or another TSA approved alternative form of identification. Until May 7, 2025, our currently issued Tennessee Driver License and/or ID credential is acceptable.
A TN REAL ID license will have a gold circle with a white star in the center and will be located in the front of the card in the upper right hand corner of the ID. If you have unknowingly gotten a REAL ID already you can turn it in for a regular drivers license but again if you fly domestically you will need one of the other 15 alternatives like a passport or passport card as of May 7, 2025 unless they push the date out as they have for the past 20 years.
Here is some information about REAL ID from the expert on this issue Twila Brase: Stop REAL ID - DO NOT COMPLY
Twila Brase, an advocate for health privacy, has been actively campaigning against the Real ID Act. She is the co-founder and director of the Citizens Council for Health Freedom, a nonprofit organization that challenges the Real ID program. Brase argues that the Real ID could be used as a backdoor to implement a National Patient ID, which would compromise medical privacy. She believes that if people do not resist, the places and services requiring a Real ID might expand, potentially including healthcare access. States initially resisted the program, but in 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security worked with state DMVs to advance the program nationally. As of 2025, all states plan to implement the program, although only 45 states require it currently. There is a push to make the system national by May 7, 2025.
Brase emphasizes that the federal government cannot constitutionally force states to implement and fund a federal law. (this is called Anti-Commandeering which was supported by the Supreme Court) She also points out that the federal REAL ID law allows the Health and Human Services Secretary to change the purpose of REAL ID at any time without congressional approval, which could lead to the card being used as a unique patient identifier for accessing medical services.
In addition to her work with the Citizens Council for Health Freedom, Brase has discussed the Real ID and National Patient ID on her daily "Health Freedom Minute" podcast, which is broadcast on 367 stations nationwide.
She argues that the push for Real ID is part of a broader agenda to control how people are registered and eventually use this card for a national patient ID, violating constitutional rights.
Brase advocates for protecting health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. (highlights and Italics are mine)
We need legislation in 2026 to NULLIFY REAL ID in Tennessee (Rand Paul had legislation to repeal REAL ID in 2018 but of course that went nowhere. This IS an issue we can stop at the state level)
THANK YOU
You know the passport is the same thing? Also, your passport has a chip hidden under the front cover and the inside front page, lower right hand corner. I steamed mine open then crushed the chip and burned it.
As a CDL holder, in TN, I was told at my last renewal that I was required to get a REAL ID, no way around it.