Originally Posted by
ElizabethConley
In the U.S. the legislative Branch does not have the power to make unconstitutional laws. If they want to amend our Constitution, they have to go through a rigorous legislative process.
Obviously, the TSA has been operating in gross violation of our Constitution. Their violations of our Constitution are illegal, regardless of any subversive collusion with our legislators or negligence on the part of those same legislators.
Our legislators are on the clock as far as I'm concerned. We flushed quite a few turds on our last election cycle. We'll be flushing again in 2012. (When the stench is bad enough, flush twice!
)
The Homeland Security Act was enacted in 2002 and supported by members of Congress, right? That Act allows the DHS to operate in the manner that it does and also DHS reports back to Congress. Laws have not been "changed", as such, but DHS has obviously been given the power to do what they have to in order to provide security for the country. It is the same in Canada -- Parliament has given approval to Transportation Canada to head up security for the country and it does not matter what is written in the "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" about "unreasonable search and seizure".
BTW, have you read this speech by Nappy?
http://bit.ly/aKbCXy
Again, I just see no point in blaming the TSA (or it's front-line employees) for eroding the Constitution when, in truth, the fault lies directly with elected representatives. This organization is only doing what they have been mandated to do by DHS and, ultimately, by Congress and the President.
Originally Posted by
Upstate
Writing closed letters to politicians about political issues does no good. A few letters are easily ignored. When they get on TV and are asked hard questions that make them look like jack-a**es then they take notice. That hurts their re-elections chances and that is really all they care about.
I am not saying writing to your politicians is useless, if you have a non-political issue they might be very useful.
I disagree. First of all, I am not saying that the letters have to be closed. If you wish, send a copy to the editorial page of whatever newspaper(s) you desire so that it gets more exposure. In addition, every time a person receives an intrusive pat-down at the airport, they should contact the media.
BTW, letters are not ignored by politicians because they know that, for every complaint letter they receive, there are approximately 500 other people who have the same opinion. Phone calls get ignored, but trust me, letters do not.