I got a very kind mention today in one of Claire’s posts concerning people who want to live without social security numbers. Unfortunately I must disagree with something she said…
Ask Joel how he does it. Offer him some payment. He could use the money and has much more relevant information.
No. Don’t. Seriously. I’ll refuse to discuss possible illegalities with a stranger, and anyway she’s right about her very next comment…
But you’re not going to like what he has to say. Not one bit.
The funny thing is that I don’t particularly consider myself a ‘number of the beast’ refusenik. In fact before reading Claire’s piece I probably hadn’t given SSNs a thought in years. I kind of backed into not using the number, because for various reasons all the state privileges you need it for were closed to me anyway, and I had my own reasons not to consider that a completely bad thing. But you picks your battles where you finds them, and SSN in particular was never a big bugaboo of mine.
But really, don’t come asking for advice on that topic.
I liked this from one of her commenters . . .
“These days I have come to the realization that when tilting at windmills it hurts me more than the wind mill.”
Methinks most of us may come to this position eventually . . . to each in his/her own time, of course. This is not meant to make light of those who choose to continue tilting, of course, as we each have to pick our battles in view of our ability to engage in them.
I saw that too, Kentucky. A great line from MJR.