Wednesday, November 22, 2006
"FROM LIBERTY TO LEVIATHAN: THE WAR ON FREEDOM"
is the title of Lee Penn's latest article in SCP Journal. Only part way through the article, I already have a new opinion of George Bush. It seems that he wants to be a dictator rather than a president in his heart of hearts. Absolute power corrupting? If so, it is directly related to the "War on Terror" that NOR tells me could be avoided by taking an even-handed approach to the Mid-East. Assuming, of course, that Bush and cooperators want to avoid it. Perhaps that is an incorrect assumption.
In any case, politics are not my bag. Really. But I bring up the article because of one passage in it and because of my recent flight from California to Cleveland. Here's what Lee wrote:
Arbitrary searches and seizures:
New Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules banning most liquids, lotions, and gels from air passengers' carry-on bags were issued after the August 2006 discovery of an alleged Islamic plot to blow up airliners in mid-flight. These regulations change unpredictably, and uniform enforcement is virtually impossible. This is the latest of the post-9/11 air security decrees, whose practical effect seems to be (1) teach Americans to submit to intrusive, warrantless searches whenever the authorities demand them, and (2) to teach them not to complain or assert their rights, since creating a disturbance at a TSA checkpoint is a sure way to get a fast arrest. By this means, among many others, the spirit of a once-proud American middle class is broken. Meanwhile, TSA agents have been stealing and damaging passengers' luggage; the agency settled a class-action suit with 15,000 victims in September 2004.
Yeah. I can testify to the authenticity of this claim after recent first-hand experience with it! There is no freedom in today's American airport. An honest citizen trying to get from here to there without any hassles has no options. Get in line and go along with the program in minute detail. Or else. From the moment you step out of your ride to the airport you belong to them and are no longer your own person until they decide to let you go. Airports and airplanes, like detention facilities, are not nice places to be in for those of us who don't fly much and so are not conditioned.
