For the last 5 years I've been traveling the US and Canada at least 8-10 times a year. That means, approximately every 5-6 weeks, I'm going in and out of an airport controlled by the TSA.

I am an unwilling participant in the Security Theater.

It has started to coalesce in the last couple of year into some resemblance of consistency. Now I have to take my laptop out at EVERY airport instead of just some.

It has been suggested that an Israeli style security system is the best at deterring suspected bombers. There are those who insist it is profiling (it is) and that profiling is a violation of my Constitutional rights to search and a violation of my human rights to not be...profiled. And yet, these very same people will grumble and, like the gentleman...er...Delta Bravo I witnessed a month ago, raise their hands repeatedly and sigh heavily because they lacked the foresight to take into consideration a)the traffic in the Metroplex and 2) the fact that at 0830 in the morning in Terminal B there is usually only one guy checking ID and one scanner open. They are the NIMBY's in this situation.

When individuals in society refuse to abide by the laws, common sense and the willingness to curtail some of their liberties for the greater good, government will step in and do it for us. Whether we like it or not.

Look, I'm all for protection. But you cannot protect all the people all the time. It is impossible. The warning signs are out there. To quote Qui-Gon Jinn, "be mindful of your surroundings". As a society, we often give up certain freedoms and liberties due to circumstances beyond our control. 9/11 was one of those.

The other is the fact that once you buy your ticket on an airplane you are VOLUNTARILY giving up many rights you have. You effectively sign them away with the swipe of a credit card. You are entering an area that is, frankly, fraught with danger. And because of the type of people who have a blatant disregard for human life have perpetrated heinous crimes using airplanes, our government has stepped in an created a system to "prevent" it from happening again. It isn't anywhere near perfect and never will be because gov'ts don't do things perfectly except screw up. (And blow up buildings but that's a post for another day.)

It's a slippery slope when you say "I'd be willing to give up some liberties for a little protection". Mainly because, unless a natural end has been created, we just stumble farther and farther down the slope. And because gov't doesn't know when to quit sometimes, we wind up with something as ineffectual as the TSA and an unwillingness to scrap it and start all over because of the wasted money involved and the fact that the sheeple with squawk and some legislators may lose their jobs.

It's a lose-lose for everyone.

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