The problem is that Americans are not required to have an ID -- at all. No federal law requires it, and there is none issued by default.
(This is not the same as saying "Americans don't have to carry an ID" even though that is also true.)
But none of that somehow makes this side of the pond the same as the other side of the pond.
An idea that works in one place doesn't necessarily work in the other.
The problem is that Americans are not required to have an ID -- at all. No federal law requires it, and there is none issued by default.
(This is not the same as saying "Americans don't have to carry an ID" even though that is also true.)