During the cold war, we condemned USSR because they were a communist country. I believe passports protect your American Citizenship, not block you from leaving the country.

During the Cold War, I read many editorials about the "refusedniks" who were dissidents who wanted to leave the USSR. The USSR had made it illegal to leave without a passport, and then these people applied for passports, either they were refused, or the bureaucrats just sat on the application and delayed and didn't give an answer one way or the other. We also thought badly of East Germany because they prevented people from leaving their country. You are correct, the passport doesn't block us from leaving the country, the GOVERNMENT blocks us! Or more accurately, any bureaucrat in the passport office who doesn't feel like allowing us to leave, blocks us. Tell me, how does the following statute "protect my citizenship"??? 8 USC 1185(b) Citizens Except as otherwise provided by the President and subject to such limitations and exceptions as the President may authorize and prescribe, it shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter, or attempt to depart from or enter, the United States unless he bears a valid United States passport. Tell me which clause of the Constitution authorizes Congress to prohibit Americans from leaving the country without having our "papers in order" ?

I always thought that it was illegal (at least in Canada it is) to be anywhere without ID and money. It falls under the vagrancy acts...I don't know why a passport should be required to leave the country... but I can certainly understand why it is required to re-enter.