In Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger is just a mild-mannered construction worker from 2084. Or is he?

Turns out, he’s a secret agent, who ends up fighting against the forces of corruption who use a technological arsenal to track him, erase his memories, and generally make his life miserable.

I sort of get a Total Recall déjà vu moment when I hear some of the wacky stuff coming out of our nation’s leaders lately.

There’s a furor in this country over the use of illegal immigrants in low-paying jobs. And as a result, politicians want you legal, American workers in all industries and jobs to suffer for it.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, who should have better things to do right now, put their heads together and decided every employee should have a biometric identification card.

They’re not sure yet what bodily functions the card would track, but a story in the Wall Street Journal offers a couple of options:

* Fingerprint
* Vein geometry. This would basically scan the configuration of your the veins on your hand
* Facial recognition
* Or iris scanning

It’s all the fun stuff you read about in science fiction novels and watch in movies, but I have to say, I’m not sure I want to become a character in a sci-fi sequel in order to pay the mortgage. And I definitely don’t want my kids having to go through this in the future.

The American Civil Liberties Union is not surprisingly worried about privacy concerns. But the group exposes other negative issues that could arise.

ACLU attorney Chris Calabrese points out that a biometric national ID system would not only create a “No-Work List” ensnaring lawful workers — like American citizens — due to the high error rate in federal databases, but it would also establish a hugely expensive new federal bureaucracy.

In July, when word of that this card was under consideration, Schumer said:

“Only by creating a biometric-based federal employment verification system will both
employers and employees have the peace of mind that all employment relationships are
both lawful and proper.”

That phrase, “peace of mind” has been behind many attempts in the recent years to deplete our rights.

Soon employees will have to take off their shoes and go through a body scanner before they’re allowed into work in the morning. Oops. Sorry, that’s the airport.