Fear and Flying

I can’t afford to buy a ticket to ride on an airplane, so I don’t feel the frustrations of airline travelers in the post-9/11 age. However, from what I am hearing, I think this outrage over the TSA’s new hyper-intrusive body-scanning and pat-down procedures just may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. For years I have been astonished by the absence of good old-fashioned righteous indignation over the loss of our rights and dignity that is a uniquely American trait. This time, however, I am quite optimistic regarding the mood of my fellow countrymen as they seethe over what is possibly the most egregious invasion of privacy free people have ever experienced. I can sense that they are finally preparing to take action.

Put down your musket, tough guy--I don’t mean that kind of action. I mean the kind of action where people start actually thinking about what it truly means to have certain inalienable rights which cannot be violated, and if they are, the violator should expect one hell of a fight. If the atrocities the TSA is committing against law-abiding citizens do not merit an infraction of our Constitutionally-protected right against unlawful searches, I don’t know what does.

The first course of action is to demand that all Congressmen and federal officials (outside of the President and Veep, of course) use commercial air travel instead of private jets. They’ll put legislation together in a heartbeat to put the brakes on Janet Napolitano’s abuses. If they refuse to fly with us commoners, or if they agree to do so but they don’t seem to mind the searches, then the next step is to boycott the airlines. They couldn’t have been any more thrilled to hear about the scanners and pat-downs than we were, but they haven’t yet put up a sufficient fight to protect their customers. After half of the traveling public starts going Greyhound, they will.

A libertarian radio commentator said today that he believes the TSA may bow down to public pressure soon and the intrusive procedures will stop. He fears, however, that the next terrorist attack will then be blamed on those who opposed the searches and even more brutal government policies will follow. I have nothing to object to in this statement, as I indeed believe that our current government is looking for any opportunity to clamp down on our rights. The response to that, however, would be the same as it is to the first problem: Do...not...let...the...government...violate...your...rights. Have I made myself clear?

I wouldn’t even worry about the next terrorist attack; they have already won. The Underwear Bomber and his cronies knew exactly what they were doing. They just as easily could have hidden a bomb in his shirt pocket, but they wanted more: They wanted to make life as miserable as possible for all of us, which is the real goal of terrorism. After the event, an astute security expert said that even though no one was killed, the ‘failed’ Underwear bomber was actually “85% successful.” Why stop at killing a hundred-or-so Americans when you can do that and at the same time make sure everyone else has to submit to dignity-robbing searches? That is how terrorists win. Let's ensure that they lose.