Some rhetoric surrounding the controversial Real ID program is getting ridiculous.

For example: “This is almost a frontal assault on the freedoms of America when they require us to carry a national ID to monitor where we are,” Rep. James Guest, a Republican from Missouri, told the Associated Press last week in an apparent fit of fevered paranoia.

Real ID, which mandates the standardizing of state drivers’ licenses into national identity cards by May 2008, has inflamed concerns about privacy of personal information, and its estimated $11 billion implementation cost. Real ID is rooted in post-9/11 recommendations for stymieing terrorists who might use fraudulent identity or travel documents.

Civil libertarians, however, conjure images of identity thieves coolly raiding this new treasure trove of data to wreak havoc. Some, like Guest, feel the icy breath of “Big Brother” on their neck. Others, such as state Sen. Elizabeth Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, fear the glacial pace of the local Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

“Every single person will have to show up to the BMV with documents proving they are who they say they are, and licensing officials will then have to verify those documents,” Mitchell warned about Real ID, in an op-ed in the Portland Press-Herald. “Then, individuals will have to return on another day to pick up their license.”

Lost in these fearsome scenarios are real, practical concerns about this program. A driver’s license is acknowledgment of competency behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, and therefore a flawed foundation on which to construct a national identity database.

College kids can make drivers’ licenses in less than hour with a digital camera and photo manipulation software. Their intent from this practice likely revolves around happy hour; imagine what true evildoers could manage with these same tools, yet for even more nefarious purposes.

Maine, as well, is rightfully wary of absorbing a $185 million unfunded federal mandate, the anticipated state cost to implement Real ID. As Matthew Dunlap, the secretary of state, has stated, this figure is six times the annual BMV budget, and will be generated from fee hikes unless federal funding is found.

Real ID is also a monstrous information technology project. The goal is for identity data, once gathered by states, to be warehoused in a federal database. Here’s another unwieldy task for Maine, given its shaky IT history. (The Medicaid computing fiasco is still resonating.)

The Legislature deserves accolades for leading the charge against Real ID; since passing a resolution against the program on Jan. 26, six other states have followed suit. Invoking the specter of endless BMV lines and brazen identity robbery as rationale, though, is overkill.

For Maine, Real ID is a flawed, unfunded federal mandate which the state cannot implement without severe difficulties and fee increases.

These reasons alone are enough for Real ID to be scrapped, or slowed.