Driver’s cards are special privileges

Letter date: 
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Letter publisher: 
The Register Guard
Letter author: 
GREG WILLIAMS
Letter body: 

Juan Carlos Valle had everything backward (“Road safety is paramount in debate on driver’s cards,” Aug. 18).

For American citizens, driving’s a right, not a privilege. A citizen can forfeit that right through repeated violations of the rules or by physical or mental incapacitation, but no government official at any level has the authority to arbitrarily deny a citizen the inherent right to drive. Government only has the authority to regulate.

On the other hand, if King Kitzhaber chooses to allow people who are in our country illegally — in violation of our immigration laws — to drive, he’s granting them a privilege. When the king grants a special consideration to favored subjects (the king’s friends) that’s not available to others, that’s a privilege.

There was a time when the United States made an effort to control immigration. When Angel Island and Ellis Island opened in 1891 immigrants were examined and anyone who was found undesirable, such as having a contagious disease, was quarantined and the steamship company had to return that person to their port of embarkation at its expense.

Since efforts to control our borders have been all but abandoned by Washington, any attempt to return to the rule of law is viewed by people such as Valle as the “ugly head of bigotry.” It’s the same race card that’s been played recently in Ferguson, Mo.