TSA and the 4th Amendment

This Saturday I will be attending a rally on the steps of the Texas Capitol in Austin supporting Texas’ bill HB-1937.  The Texas House recently passed this bill unanimously.  It now needs to be passed by the Texas Senate, it then heads to Governor Perry for signing into law.  This legislation is designed to protect the freedom and dignity of people by stopping the treatment of travelers as criminal suspects and the forcing of innocent citizens to submit to unreasonable and humiliating searches without probable cause as a condition of travel.  Basically it just reaffirms what the 4^th amendment to the constitution guarantees.  The Federal Government has already threatened that if this bill passes they will shut down all air travel in Texas.

I understand this is a very emotional issue.  All of us want our families to be safe when traveling on airlines.  Just a few years ago I was a huge supporter of government intervention in regards to keeping us safe.  Since becoming an avid studier of history and the U.S. Constitution I have changed my stance dramatically.  It’s no surprise that most of us believe government can’t do anything better than the private sector.  Look at the U.S. postal service, DMV, Department of Education, Department of Energy, ect.  Yet for some reason many Americans think government can adequately protect us when it comes to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  I don’t blame people for having this stance.  We are practically taught from pre-school that the government is there to protect us.  Unfortunately people don’t realize that our founding fathers did not intend for the Federal Government to take on this role.  The Federal Government’s intended role was to protect our rights guaranteed under the Constitution, basically their only goal is to make sure we have Freedom…period. 

Two weeks ago I traveled to CA on an airline.  After returning from CA I noticed there was a “Notice of Baggage Inspection” inside my checked bag.  It stated my bag was chosen to be opened and searched.  It also said, “If the TSA security officer was unable to open your bag for inspection because it was locked, the officer may have been forced to break the locks on your bag.  TSA sincerely regrets having to do this, however TSA is not liable for damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution.”  What on Earth is this Nation coming to when we allow federal agents to open our bags without our permission, break our locks, and then say they don’t have to replace the locks they break?  No private company could ever get away with this without being sued.  Yet, most silently sit by while the Federal Government grows bigger and bigger, becoming more intrusive, treating us all like terrorists, and spends us into bankruptcy.

So if we kick the TSA out of Airports, does this mean none of us will be safe on airlines?  No.  American’s are conditioned to believe that government is the only entity that can keep us safe.  But this just isn’t the case.  The free market is what made America great, keeping us safe on airlines would be no exception. 

In my opinion, each airline will have its own security screening.  For instance, if an airline named Freedom Airlines felt the public did not want intrusive searches then they would allow passengers to board without being searched.  Instead Freedom Airlines would save money on not having security equipment that cost them hundreds of thousands per year and instead have armed guards on their flights.  If the public truly wanted intimate searches of every person and bag then Freedom Airlines would quickly go out of business.  Of course this airline would get all of my business.

Now let’s say for instance another airline named No-Privacy Airlines took the opposite approach.  They either take ex-rays or hand search everyone who boards, and also open up all checked bags.  If America truly did want this type of “safety” then No-Privacy Airlines will thrive.  Now it is true that these flights might be more expensive due to the increasing costs of equipment and enough staff to handle the searches.  But the price of additional safety on a flight must cost the traveler more money (that’s his choice), but it should not cost their Freedom as it does currently.

Is it possible some lives might be sacrificed in the rare circumstance that a passenger that was not searched was able to bring a bomb on board?  Yes.  But Freedom isn’t free.  Sacrificing freedom to be safe leads to exactly the type of government we have today.

If the public truly does want these intrusive searches, then we need to do it the right way.  We need to have the Constitution amended in order to make this legal.  The 4^th amendment currently protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures.  If we allow the Federal Government to violate the very document that they swore to uphold, what is to stop them from violating other areas of the Constitution?   It’s no coincidence that our children aren’t being taught thoroughly about the Constitution in school, I know I didn’t learn about it in the CA public school system.  How can we know our rights are being violated if we have no idea what they are?  If there is no change from the current course the United States is on, we will become a nation completely dominated by the political elite.  We are at a tipping point.  Will you choose to remain complacent, or will you become informed and choose to spread the message of Freedom?