So, now it's being proposed in certain circles (e.g., by Alan Dershowitz) that the air-travel security issues be dealt with by providing frequent fliers who have passed a security screening with a permanent, attached-to-them identifier that will allow them to pass through all of the intrusive screening, and the rest, presumably, all get a body-cavity search before being permitted to board. Of course, once it's proven to work well at identifying people who aren't security risks, it will quickly find its way into every other aspect of life where proving identity is crucial - such as credit decisions - eventually, you won't be able to buy food, or clothing, or rent a room, or own a house, without having this permanent identifier attached to your body to verify who you really are. You think that's far-fetched? The social security number wasn't supposed to become an all-purpose identifier, and yet here we are today, using the SSN as an all-purpose identification number.
Funny, but we've all heard of anti-democratic regimes permanently marking individuals to classify them, so let's just call this idea the ...
Mark of Obama
