Do Not Follow the Leader

England has been the leader in keeping track of its citizens.  They have cctv cameras seemingly growing out of the wood, in order to keep their citizens safe.  There are doubts as to whether they actually work, but once a government gets a big brother program like this going, it would take an act of god to stop it.  Next comes their national ID with bio-metric data.  Which is to include your address, finger prints, and retinal scan.  This is certainly comparable to the U.S. Real ID, and what our law makers are pushing on us.  We shouldn't have to walk around with our iris scan and finger prints just to prove who I am.  I think a picture works just fine.  Both the U.S. and English governments are claiming this will increase our safety, but if they can't get the big issues right, how can we expect them to carry this out with any bit of competency?