Originally Posted by
yandosan
The security measures associated with travelling should begin and end with issuing someone a passport.... This cutesy pay-to-play approach toward letting some people breeze through security for a fee is unacceptable. What's next, are we going to pay cops a small fee not to frisk us or beat us as we walk down city streets? Ridiculous.
Really, "begin and end with issuing someone a passport"? There should be no additional security measures for flights? We tried that in the 1970s, and hijackings were commonplace, even with relatively few people flying. Your Libertarian view is far outside the mainstream.
Your suggestion that paying for the background check process is somehow analagous to extortion by a cop on the beat is equally mind-bending. It's not like TSA is leaving out tip jars for the screeners.
The alternative is that all taxpayers pay for something that only a small minority have any interest in. How is a fee-for-service model not preferable? Those interested in Pre-check pay for the administrative costs, and as a result there's little to no cost passed along to the taxpayer. Everyone wins.