I looked up the history of driver’s license as a window into creeping government power, one that would of course grow exorbitantly (most recently shown by the powers exercised due to covid).
Not surprisingly it all started in Prussia, the “worst” part of Germany historically (the area of the most enthusiastic Hitler supporters, birthplace of militarism and Lutheranism, of a compulsory school system with structured days, and a hotbed of scriptural scholar critics):
On September 29, 1903, Prussia, then a monarchy within the German Empire, introduced mandatory licensing. A mechanical aptitude exam was required, administered by the Dampfkesselüberwachungsverein (“steam boiler organization”).
Germany is in some ways the “California of the world”. It’s where bad ideas start and spread, and it is where permission of the government to drive a car started. This was followed soon by New York (which was then the “California of the U.S.”).
States requiring driver’s licenses came slowly. The length of time between the first state to require and the last was over 50 years; in 1903 it was New York and in 1954 South Dakota. Additionally, a handful of states didn’t impose driver’s tests until the mid-1950s, including big states like Illinois and Wisconsin.
It feels like back then states had more power. Nowadays the federal government could simply threaten to withdraw funds for roads and get the states to comply quickly. The covid lockdown was more rigorous in some states (New York) compared to others (Florida), but my impression is that states were far more similar than different. Not sending children to schools was a huge deal and was countrywide. If the states had more power, at least one of them would’ve bucked this absurd idea given how kids are not at risk from the virus.
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