In America, to be ID'd - sorted, tagged, and permanently filed - is to lose a bit of one's soul. To die a little. This sounds like a subtle, poetic notion. It's not. In American legal and cultural tradition, one essential privilege of citizenship is not having to prove it on demand.

Walter Kirn

Walter Kirn

America American Bit Citizenship Cultural Demand Die Essential Having Legal Like Little Lose Notion Permanently Poetic Privilege Prove Sorted Soul Sounds Subtle Tradition

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