No. of Recommendations: 5
as long as they are free
That is a fair sentiment. It's reasonable.
I have told the story before, about my getting that gold star "Real ID" indicator on my license. I was standing in line at the Secretary of State office, with my license renewal form, and the birth certificate I have had, literally, all my life. A clerk came down the line asking what everyone was there for. I said to obtain a Real ID license. She looked at my birth certificate, and said "that isn't a birth certificate. it's a souvenir from the hospital". I protested "it was good enough for the Navy" (but, of course, the US was nowhere near as nutty 50 years ago as it is now). She was not impressed. Fortunately, my life's wanderings brought me back to the county of my birth, so I drove down to the nearest Wayne County Clerk's office and ordered an official, certified, birth certificate. It was not free Given that, to obtain a "Real ID" driver's license, so I can board a domestic airline flight, or enter a Federal building, I had to pay for a birth certificate, I expect obtaining similar dox for a "citizenship" marker on a license to also be rationed by ability to pay.
Steve