Why doesn't the government give a passport to every citizen?

[Paradoxical]

I'm travelling to Africa this summer for a study abroad trip. It's the first time I will have left the US.

I was worried that I wouldn't get the passport in time for the trip (and especially in time to finish the paperwork). So I opted for the expedited processing not really understanding the cost.

$238

No form of ID that is required to get back into the US, as a US citizen, should cost $238.

Even if I got the standard processing, it would have cost $150 to go through my university and over $110 to go straight through the state department.

[Quantess]

1. Mine was right around $100, from Sept 2010

Maybe the idea is to encourage Americans to never leave the counrty, so they won't get any ideas from other advanced countries.

[Historic NY]

2. Yeah I know you panicked,,,I was leaving last yr & had my passport.. ,

but it expired I found out 2 weeks before. I did it the regular way at the post office and it was here with a week to spare.

[BrookBrew]

3. I got mine back on standard in less than 7 business days..

Most people really don't use them. A passport is really like US Id for other countries. I think 110 is a bit steep but it is only used when you leave the US.

[Paradoxical]

6. I know of several people who use their passport as an official form of ID.

Having a passport should not be considered a luxury. It should be standard for every citizen.

[BrookBrew]

8. It should be free to anyone who will use it..

It should not be needed in the US for any reason (a DL should cover everything). However if a person has a ticket booked the government should provide it at no cost (imho).

Mine sits in a drawer most of the time these days.

[Fuzz]

4. Because most Americans don't leave their own state, nevermind the country.

[Newest Reality]

5. In that case,

We, the new Underclass are really trapped here. We can't even afford to walk across the border with a backpack.

Well, other countries wouldn't have us anyway since immigration standards are rather strict.

I would so like to get out of here, (though I am often reminded that our corporatist, (neo-Fascist) problem is a global one, hence, nowhere to run) before the collapse and takeover go any farther. Unless you are decently wealthy, this is going to be the land of misery where zombie-Serfs toil on pharmaceuticals, (to see how good it all is) as cheap, easily expendable resources for the new, irrefutable, corporate agenda.

Aldous Huxley wondered if Earth was another planet's hell. Well, America might underscore the reason for that, soon.

Could a foreign family adopt me, please? Holland looks great for feeding the head. ;)

[Obamanaut]

16. There are some impoverished border crossers who enter the US

surreptitiously because they are that desperate to get in. Others float in via flimsy rafts and small boats. From time to time others desperate to be here are found in packing crates on ships.

The point is, if people who feel they are trapped elsewhere employ such desperate means to enter, one who feels trapped here might employ desperate means to exit.

I'm staying.

[leeroysphitz]

18. Perspectives.

It's Two Thirty in the A.M.

[Mz Pip]

7. Consider it another tax

That fee helps cover the costs of processing the passport, the government employees that do whatever it is that they do to issue one.

I don't know of a country that doesn't require a passport to enter. I needed one to get into Canada last year.

I don't think that the fees are part of some big plot to keep people from traveling. I think they are needed to pay the people who do the work.

Not everything can be "free." Actually not much of anything can be free.

[Paradoxical]

10. They run a background check and then print the passport.

That should not cost over 100 dollars.

I own guns. The background checking process for purchasing a gun costs no money.

[truedelphi]

11. Ah, there's your solution. Arm yourself with enough ammo

To take on customs, and proceed to the border of your choice!

I did once get from Canada to the USA without too much in the way of customs interfering, when my guinea pig went and poked his nose up against the agent's face.

With a scream of "What else are you carrying on you? Warthogs, snakes, lizards?" And I was sort of shoved across the international line. Fastest cross over I had ever made.

[Travis_0004]

12. Actually, you do pay for a fee for a gun background check.

On every gun you buy (and AMMO), there is an 11% tax. This funds the background checks (and gets wasted on other stuff). There is a fee, its just hidden in the cost.

As for processing cost, I agree it shouldn't cost so much. I guess the government assumes if you can afford the luxury of traveling to another country, you can afford a passport.

[MilesColtrane]

15. I'm sure the inclusion of an RFID chip, and its necessary programming...

drive up the cost a bit, but the price still seems too steep.

[kenny blankenship]

9. They could give them away, but they'd prefer to make you crawl

since they have discovered they have that power. Previous generations of Americans wouldn't have stood for it.

I am referring to the new passport questionnaire proposed, not the paperwork charge.

[yellowcanine]

14. $100 every ten years is hardly a hardship. There is some cost to issuing passports and keeping the

records. $10 a year doesn't seem unreasonable and it may not even cover the total cost. Why should people who never need a passport subsidize mine? People who can afford to travel to other countries can afford a passport.

[yellowcanine]

13. You need one to go to Canada. Canada is a great place to visit.

Also my grandmother was born there and I want to go there to dig up some family history. So I need a passport even if I never go anywhere else.
Also I like the idea of being able to go someplace on short notice if necessary so I keep my passport up to date. Sometimes I get opportunities to travel to other countries
with my work and while I usually would have enough lead time to get a passport, having one is just one less thing to get done.

[jberryhill]

17. That's okay, you can sell it for fifty times that in Africa!

[leveymg]

19. Thank the Reagan-Bush Admin for opening the door to private passport "expediters"

You could have gotten your passport just as quickly for less than half if you had applied yourself through a US Passport office.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. It's not a form of ID that's required to get back into the US.

It's a form of identification that's required to travel to OTHER COUNTRIES. Sure, you need to present your passport and prove US citizenship on re-entering the States. But that's not the only reason you need it.

Other countries charge fees for passports; here in the UK it's £72 (over US$100 at present rates of exchange) and in Australia it's AU$226 (which is about US$226), give or take).