Stranger In A Strange Land

By nature I'm an optimist, which I know doesn't come across in this space because blogs, like the 6pm news, generally focus on controversy and what's going wrong. And with incompetence and lies and wars gone south dominating the headlines, it's easy to forget that we have it pretty good in the U.S. When we flick the switch, the lights come on. When we turn the faucet, water comes out. That sets us apart from much of the rest of the world.

But every so often I notice a symptom of a broken system, and my optimism is tested. This week I wanted to rent a mailbox at a U.S. post office. I arrived with my driver's license, birth certificate, and social security card, thinking these would more than suffice. After waiting in line for twenty minutes, I presented my documents to the clerk. He looked at them for a few seconds and said that two documents were required to rent a box, but only my driver's license was acceptable. When I asked for an explanation, he pointed to a sign that listed the acceptable documents. Indeed, a birth certificate and a social security card were not on the list. What was? An "alien registration card" and a "certificate of naturalization."

I don't know what genius in the federal bureaucracy decided that a driver's license, birth certificate, and a social security card together aren't enough to rent a post office box. But when a green card trumps a U.S. birth certificate in the eyes of the federal government, something has gone terribly wrong.



Postscript: What document did the post office ultimately accept after rejecting my birth certificate and social security card? A copy of my current apartment lease.