By Eric Peters, not me; to address what is happening to us at airports these days, at a certain level.

http://ericpetersautos.com/2012/08/11/why-do-we-obey/

Human nature. Stanley Milgram showed this in his famous experiment:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

It is also exceedingly difficult to resist group pressure, to think for oneself and to stand up for what you believe in. These actions often lead to ostracism by the group, which may mock or even turn viciously on the outlier, who exposes their weaknesses/misconduct.

Standing up for what you think is right leads to punishment - in this case, a potential delay in flying or an inability to reach your destination at all [see: ocean for anyone who wishes to pipe up with 'flying is not a right'].

Heck, they don't even need to have a uniform. Do a quick search regarding the "fast food strip search" incidents, including the most infamous one that occurred at a McDonalds. An anonymous voice on the phone claiming to be a police officer was enough to get people to do truly horrible, and extremely illegal things.

I don't discount the psychology, but the uniform and the implied presence of weapons and the permission to use them with few if any consequences does have an influence, even if in reality there are no weapons at the scene.

Even in America, where the police are far less corrupt and abusive than many other places, the police have a disturbing tendency to beat, tase, and/or shoot people who are not posing an immediate threat to life or safety in addition to causing rampant property destruction up to and including killing harmless pets (google "Cheye Calvo"). The actions of the police are almost always defended by their colleagues and management and usually held up by the courts or non-LEO authorities. The police can make a completely innocent person's life miserable on a whim by arresting them for a trumped-up contempt-of-cop charge and throwing them in jail overnight, and even if the exonerated person throws all their might at filing complaints and lawsuits, the cop is unlikely to receive even a slap on the wrist while the victim is out thousands of dollars and has an arrest record. So there's a very practical self-preservation-driven reason to cave in to cops. *Anyone* who stands up for their liberty to a cop in the field in an appropriate and non-violent fashion, even in the smallest way such as recording an encounter, is a hero.

I would be willing to bet that a majority of people do not remotely grasp the vast differences in legal authority between a LEO and a TSA screener, particularly once TSA went to police-style uniforms and badges, which I don't for a moment believe was coincidence. I would be willing to be that some smaller fraction, maybe 10% or so, think a TSA screener is a LEO. A huge fraction of the TSA's de facto power over the population comes from this lack of knowledge. (IMO most of the rest of the power comes from TSA's exploitation of the time-sensitive nature of air travel; in other words they know most passengers are rushed and will cave in just to clear the checkpoint.)

Why do we surrender to the orders of e TSA? If you don't they can stop you from flying. There is no other choice. Not like you can go across the street to the 'compettitor'. And no one at the top, i.e., Congress, feels there is a problem since obviously we are all guilty of trying to cause havoc.

I guess the question is then when, as a society, do we finally say "Enough!"? When the TSA starts performing random or even targeted cavity searches? How about full body x-rays? TSA pumpers love to scuff at the idea of such intrusive and dangerous methods, but just think off how far we've come in three years. Imagine three years ago asking someone on the street if they though it would be OK for the TSA to grab their breasts or testicles, or for them to see their 13 year old daughter naked. Most people would have been outraged at the thought, yet these things are almost gleefully accepted every day now. Australia has already install the full body x-ray devices. I'm sure the US will follow soon enough. At first they'll claim it is only for suspected drug mulls, but soon anyone will be subject to random screening.