You know I might have a Libertarian streak in some moments myself, and I love New Hampshire's license plate, etc. - but of all the annoying and even angering frustrations in life, and all the suffocating government overreach in life (in my opinion), flashing my driver's license has never been a big deal to me. I don't get the issue (or showing it for voting for that matter). I just don't get it. We use them all the time for pretty trivial, routine transactions like renting a car.
I do remember last time on the Hudson we got too close to Indian Point nuke plant zone (but did not cross the boundary). You'd think we had fired a North Korean missile at the containment building. In discussions like this when we tell stories about fierce guns-drawn boarding, or when I have a bad encounter - and I've had them - I keep thinking, with all your guns and badges and hardware, this is really the best use of your time? Shaking down a recreational boat and acting like you're boarding a narco-runner cigarette boat off Miami, or like you're confronting a Chinese destroyer in the Sea of Japan? Grow up Gomer Pyle, if this is the best use of your time and hardware you've got a very small job.