Below you find a copy of the message which I've sent to one of the two officers who took me in a room and shut the door behind us,where they attempted to convince me that what I knew to be true is not true..... (something like Communism I gather.....)
Dear Trooper X,
My previous message was not clear.
Please allow me to summarize more clearly now
First of all, neither you nor any of your colleagues have produced any evidence that your interpretation of the law is correct.
You have produced no document whatsoever that says or implies that a first-time applicant for a driver’s license must show his or her social security card.
The documents which you and your colleagues produced said the applicant must produce evidence of his or her social security number. --And that I did do.
Secondly, when you attempted to convince me that your (mis-) interpretation was correct, you all made an elementary reading mistake. You all acted as though by pointing to the words “social security card” on an official document you had proved your case. That is an elementary error. If you only find the words “social security card” on an official document without finding a sentence, then you don’t know what the document is saying. It could be saying a social security card must be produced or it could be saying that a social security card must not be produced. That’s the difference a sentence makes.
I have no doubt that you were following orders—illegitimate and over-reaching orders.
If you actually read the law carefully, it is written in such a way as to avoid requiring an actual Social Security Card. And, it also does not limit supporting documents to those which are listed in the Texas Drivers Handbook or at the Department web site. So, it follows that by limiting supporting documents and requiring an actual Social Security Card, someone has over-reached their authority. Somebody at the Department of Public Safety has illegitimately and illegally taken on the duties of a legislator.
The job of a policeman or employee of the Department of Public Safety is to follow the law, not to make new laws, and not to abridge or amend existing laws.
Finally, by choosing to blindly follow the orders you were given, and by setting aside your ability to think rationally, you and all of your colleagues have chosen to behave like citizens living in a totalitarian state—not at all like free and thoughtful citizens living in a democracy.
Sincerely yours,
Mark J. Lovas
Note
At the Department of Public Safety homepage, the wording is very precise. I will quote it for you now, using a different font to indicate what I am quoting:
Acceptable Documentation of the Social Security Number includes:
(The page then goes on to list different documents.)
Note carefully the word “includes”. If I say my lifetime achievements include driving safely, I am not saying that my only lifetime achievement is driving safely; I have allowed for the possibility of other lifetime achievements. So if the homepage says that acceptable documentation includes the following, that does not mean that acceptable documents are only the following. In other words, the homepage says “includes” NOT “is limited to”. And it says that because the authors of the law wanted to allow for the possibility that a citizen might have other means of establishing his or her Social Security Number besides those which are listed on the web site or in the Texas Drivers Handbook.
However, the interpretation which you and your colleagues have placed upon the law is not “includes” but “is limited to.”
Hence you and your colleagues are actually changing the law—even though that is not your job.
You are going beyond your legitimate authority and you are re-writing the laws.
Note:
I have now added a link to the pertinent page at the Texas Department of Public Safety:
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/DriverLicense.socialsecuritynumber.html
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