“Those who give up essential liberty to purchase a little security deserve neither liberty nor security.”
—Benjamin Franklin
There must be a law like Murphy’s Law that states that government agencies with excessive authority inevitably go overboard in their regulations. Remember the year in the 1980s when the Federal Transportation Agency imposed an ignition device on new cars so that the engine wouldn’t start unless the driver wore his seat belt?
Citizens objected so vociferously that the government quickly reversed itself.
Let’s hope the same thing occurs with the Obama administration’s decision to install invasive “full body” scanners at airports in the United States, and to impose invasive pat-downs for those who uphold their Fourth Amendment rights against “unreasonable searches.” Americans need to stand up and say, “Enough is enough.”
As long-time subscribers know, I’ve been in the forefront of defending the right to personal and financial privacy, having written “The Complete Guide to Financial Privacy” in the early 1980s.
I find it appalling that the government, after pushing through numerous laws against sexual harassment, has adopted an official policy of sexual harassment against its citizens with the introduction of “full body” scanners and pat-downs that are patently offensive. The whole process is now appropriately referred to the use of “porno” scanners.
Sadly, the majority of Americans seem to support this new attack on privacy. A recent poll found that 80% of citizens go along with the “full body” searches, a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment (no matter what the courts decide). In this regard, I’m reminded of Doug Casey’s reference to today’s spineless Americans: “You’re all a bunch of whipped dogs.” Ben Franklin’s warning could apply here: “Those who give up essential liberty to purchase a little security deserve neither liberty nor security.”
I salute the freedom fighters who recognized that this latest action is just one more example in the gradual loss of our freedoms. ”Freedom is never lost all at once,” stated Edmund Burke. Indeed. If we don’t stand up now, when will we?
To see how you can help protest this attack on liberty, go to www.wewontfly.com. Tea partiers, unite!
Finally, it is a sad commentary that TSA agents and government officials are supportive in this attack on fellow citizens. I was shocked to read that a federal security director instructed his agents as follows: “I want them to think Abdulmutallab [the Christmas Day bomber who was thwarted from blowing up a Detroit-bound airplane] with every pat-down.” Tell that to the elderly and kids getting pat-downs.
For those TSA agents who say, “It’s my job,” remind them of these words from the great libertarian film “Cool Hand Luke”: “Just because it’s your job doesn’t make it right.”
Next up: TSA is now pushing for the random “secondary screening,” in which you are taken to “the cage” and subjected to even further invasions of privacy. When will this idiocy end?
