My first experience with airport pat-downs of any kind was witnessing one of these state-sanctioned assaults at LAS in 2009. I was shocked, as I sat waiting for boarding to begin, to see TSOs frisking a traveler and searching her carry-ons at a table they set up in the boarding lane. But the shock only lasted for about 10 seconds, and then outrage and fury took its place.

I made up my mind, right then and there, that I was NEVER going to willingly submit to a physical search of my person. Whether you call them frisks, pat-downs, rubdowns, or any other euphemism, they are still unwarranted, causeless, invasive searches which violate the 4th Amendment and far exceed the limited scope of a legally permitted administrative search, unless they are performed with some specific, articulable probable cause.

I was pretty scared in 2009, not of the search, but of the long drive in a rental car from Las Vegas to Baltimore - because I had decided that I would drive home rather than allow any government actor to put their hands on my person. And I was fully prepared and willing to back that up. I remain so prepared to this day.

I don't fly much, so thus far I have been able to avoid getting stuck. But one day, unless the American public wakes up and stops their government from stripping their rights and freedoms away in the name of some bogus "safety" or "security", my luck will run out, and I will wind up making a very long drive instead of taking a short flight.

I just hope it doesn't happen when I'm on the other side of the country...