‘I consider Trial by Jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution’ — Thomas Jefferson When our memories grow short, long-fought-for rights can easily be abandoned, once-valued principles all but forgotten.
If ID cards become mandatory we will lose much of our remaining liberty. Only law-abiding citizens lose out.
Since resources can’t possibly pull up everyone, but still might pull up anyone, the ‘rules’ can be tantamount to a mechanism for arbitrary arrest.
The problem with simply increasing police numbers is that it assumes a purely state-down approach, disconnects police function from their source of authority (the individual), and can become easily politicised and directed away from the real job of tackling actual rights violations such as violent crime and theft.