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The original Spitzer plan, announced last September, was praised by self-described immigrants' rights groups but highly criticized by New Yorkers opposed to giving any legal recognition at all to illegal immigrants. The plan would have simply turned a blind eye to the immigration status of anyone applying for a New York driver's license.

But, as opponents to the free ride for illegal immigrants became more vocal, the plan became a political hot potato that seemed to burn everyone that it touched. The controversy even affected Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who stumbled to answer a question about it during the October 30 presidential debate and was strongly criticized by her Democratic rivals for her evasive response on the issue.

In a last-ditch effort to save his hare-brained scheme, Spitzer partnered with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to create a three-tier system of licenses: a limited driver's license that illegal immigrants could have obtained, which could not have been used for boarding planes or crossing borders; a Real ID license, which federal officials would accept, which would have been available only to legal residents; and a third, more secure ID that would have complied with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and would have facilitated border crossings for New Yorkers traveling to and from Canada frequently.

Instead of most folks being being pleased by Spitzer's compromise plan, the governor finally learned that when you try to please everyone, in the end, you please no one. A poll released on November 13 by Siena College found that more than 80 percent of the 625 registered voters polled opposed the plan. The poll also revealed that for the first time, more people viewed the governor unfavorably than favorably.

The first groups that Spitzer alienated with his three-tier plan were Hispanic lawmakers and so-called immigrants' rights groups, who had supported Spitzer's original plan to make the standard New York license available to illegal immigrants. These supporters feared that the special category of license for illegals would alert law enforcement authorities that the bearers were in the country illegally.

Those who had opposed the original plan because it leant quasi-legal status to those who were breaking our immigration laws were no more pleased by the compromise plan than they were by the original. Upstate Republican Representative Thomas Reynolds, for example, said he feared that Spitzer "is taking this state down a risky path" by giving any kind of license to illegal immigrants.

In addition to those who either favored or opposed licenses for illegal immigrants, the modification of the plan to conform with federal requirements such as the Real ID act, which goes into effect in 2013, was a real concern to defenders of privacy concerned about intrusive, big brother government.

One vocal opponent of the plan was Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, who said "The governor's stunning lack of courage is aiding the Bush administration in clamping down on civil liberties." According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, "Ms. Lieberman has been a vocal opponent of Spitzer's recent decision to submit to the Real ID Act, and has called for the New York State Senate to pass Res. No. J2096, an anti-Real ID Act resolution currently co-sponsored by 22 senators."

In this instance, the New York Civil Liberties Union (an affiliate of the national ACLU) happens to be correct, even though any true lover of freedom opposes completely the organization's past history of supporting collectivist causes. Roger Baldwin, founder and veteran leader of the ACLU, wrote in the 30th anniversary yearbook, published in 1935 by his Harvard graduating class of 1905: "I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control by those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal."

The ACLU can also be on the wrong side of the immigration issue, when it suits its purposes. Earlier this year, the ACLU sued the town of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, in federal court for its tough stance on illegal immigrants.

We live in strange times when the old labels (left, right, liberal, conservative) are often inaccurate in describing positions on the important issues of our day. The fact that a "liberal" Democrat governor and a cabinet member in the supposedly conservative Bush administration could have joined forces to advocate implementation of the Real ID Act signifies that our freedoms are threatened by politicos of many stripes. Those who defend both the security of our borders against illegal immigrants and terrorists, and the rights of all legal Americans to come and go as they please (even to Canada or Mexico), can be grateful that in this case one philosophy — the philosophy of "common sense" — prevailed.

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