National ID Is Dead
USDA effectively and quietly knocked the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in the head last Wednesday. It did so with the unheralded publication of the "NAIS User Guide," which replaces all former NAIS draft documents. This document, for the first time, emphasizes NAIS as a voluntary program rather than as a steppingstone to a mandatory one.
In fact, at the very beginning, the guide explains, "USDA is not requiring participation in the program. NAIS can help producers protect the health and marketability of their animals -- but the choice to participate is theirs."
Maybe I'm cynical, but I really don't think NAIS is dead. Can everybody out there remember how the Federal Government mandated a 55 MPH speed limit in the 70's? Since they couldn't set a national speed limit themselves they required the states, by threatening to withhold highway funding, to set speed limits and all states fell right in line and did it.
What's to stop them from doing this here. Requiring a mandatory ID system by the states by blackmail them. I think it is something to be aware of and to remain wary of. Also of note, what will happen with the Democrat congress and in the future a new administration?
All of us Americans that value freedom will need to be wary of NAIS in the future. The USDA might have had to back off for now but vigilance is required to ensure its ugly head does not rear up again.
Blackmail has become respectable. Robert G. Menzies
