InkUnderNails

I agree.

petaluma1

Pot. Kettle. Black

WilcoRoger

I'm afraid you didn't quite catch the alphabet agencies and geographical locations I gave you - I envy your tender age Of course it's your choice to obey everyone and anyone who wears some uniform.

Btw - do you also obey the whims of the mailman? He's after all a federal employee in uniform, just like the TSA employees.

Badenoch

I fully understand the agencies and geographies you've mentioned and chose to ignore an odious and moronic comparison. You have a free choice to fly or not and can avoid the TSA if you like. Those sent to the Gulag or Dachau were not offered the same option.

Darkumbra

Of course those sent to the Gulag had an option!
All they had to was be submissive, they chose to complain.

As to Dachau? All those sent there, chose to ignore the warning signs, and then to remain in Germany

Everything is choice... Right?

Andy Big Bear

So, does the TSA have the authority to institute cake walks as part of the war on terror in addition to playing "Mother May I?"

SeriouslyLost

How do I get to China or NZ and avoid dealing with TSA? More to the point, if I'm told on a Monday afternoon that I have to be in China by COB Wednesday, how do I manage that?

TheRoadie

In his universe, you freedom to avoid the TSA involves losing your job. Nobody's forcing you to have such a job that requires exercising your right to travel.....you could always (again in his universe) work for the TSA in your hometown.

InkUnderNails

You are quite correct, but you need to understand a few things.

I have a unique skill that is only known to few people in the United States, probably fewer than a dozen, that are not employed by companies that would be very, very upset if they proffered their skills on an open market. As such, I am only one of a very few people that can be called to do what I do. I am a consultant with very specific skills.

These skills can not be applied remotely.

Because of the specificity of the skills, the market for my skills covers a large geographic territory. Yes I could drive to these customers, but as a consultant I charge for my time. The less time I spend traveling the more time I have to bill customers. The less time I can bill, the less money I make.

You may not find this a problem, but I do. I use my money to buy things for me and my family. My son just completed a college degree with no college loan. I am debt free and have no payments. I have taken a lucrative skill and use it to support charities in my community. I give money to my church. I do not freeload on my fellow citizens and do not have to.

You may not understand money, so here is a brief explanation. I serve the needs of my customers by the application of my skills. They serve me by sending me a good check. Simple exchange of value. My time for their money. We serve each other.

I suspect you do not understand this concept. I suspect, I could be wrong, that you have a feeling that you are entitled to be supported. Maybe not. I said it was a suspicion.

So by telling me I do not have to fly you are quite correct. However, that same implication carries a great understanding to your thought process. I fly because of what it allows me to do with what I earn and I earn more when I fly. You can so simply say just do not fly. You might as well say, do not provide as well for your family. Do not give to charity. Do not send your son to school. Do not give as much to your church. You choose to fly, choose to earn less.

I more than you have a financial incentive to get on that plane fast and not miss my flight. But there is one thing more valuable to me than my job and my ability to create wealth from knowledge. It is liberty I have to do so. I like our founders, but to a much lesser extent, I have pledged my life, my fortune and my honor, to preserve and protect those liberties the best I can.

It took me many years to learn the value of our liberty. I refuse to concede any more it than I already have when I can prevent it.

When you learn that your liberty has greater value than catching a plane, you will know what I mean. Right now, walk around me and catch your plane. While you still can.

Badenoch

We are in not dissimilar situations. I too am a consultant with specific skills. I put on 100,000 miles plus last year (Africa, Asia, Europe) and am off in two weeks to the CIS on another project.

The money is good. I too am debt free, support my family and sit on the board of and donate to a local children's mental health agency.

To achieve this I must fly. Dealing with the security theatre of various countries including yours is just part of the daily grind and I don't get all that fussed about it.

I have a slightly different perspective on the TSA. Due to an accident of geography and ancestors who wanted to settle on the other side of the river I am not an American. I am however close enough to be alternately fascinated and repelled by your country. More so the later since 9/11.

The TSA is an American creation. Limits on liquids, banning of nail files, pat downs of your naughty bits, TSA locks, x-ray nudity, removal of shoes/belts, production of laptops, hand swabs, need for ID, and the no-fly list are all largely American developments imposed by American authorities on the rest of the world to satisfy the needs of an overly-frightened domestic population.

I do tolerate the imposition in my own country. It�s really not that much of a problem if I have to take my shoes off before flying to Detroit even though I can keep them on when going to non-American destinations in the world.

I don't really mind when because the flight is going to New York, gate security in Johannesburg feels the need to fondle my jewels, paw through my carry-on and demand to see my laptop AFTER I've already gone through a security check that is sufficient for the rest of the world. Meanwhile I just walked on flights to London and Munich.

When Americans pound their chests about liberty, whine and complain about the TSA and its assorted outrages the response from this non-resident alien is: It's your system. You deserve it. Your government demands the rest of the world live by it in return for flying to America. Fair enough. But if the rest of the world can suck it up with minimal complaint then so can you.

chollie

(bolding mine) Actually, way too much of it is to satisfy the needs of an ever-expanding 'security industrial complex', possibly the fastest growing 'industry' and segment of the federal government in the US. Nothing is too preposterous or too expensive to be justified in the name of 'security'. It is this industry that has a vested interest in convincing Americans that they are terrified (and trying to market the same paranoia to the rest of the world).

InkUnderNails

You really do display your ignorance of our situation. It is our country. We have a Constitution that many of us still respect. We will fight for it as out founders did. You are a foreigner making use of the liberty paid for with the blood and treasure of many generations. We grant you the privilege to enjoy it, and I do not wish to deny you that privilege.

However, you have no right to tell me how I will defend my system and help to remove its brokenness. You have admitted that you are a non-resident alien. I will not look down upon the people and the defense of your country wherever it is, and I suggest you keep your mouth shut about what I do in mine.

Your insulting and abusive language about my reaction to how in my small way defend my liberties disgusts me as you use those liberties without any cost to yourself or you ancestors.

But, my disgust is personal. Our country has seen reason to grant you certain liberties and privileges. All I ask is that you respect those of us that wish to preserve them for ourselves and for you. Obviously that respect does not exist.

Feel free to continue to comment. I will feel perfectly free to ignore it at it is not worth my time.

DAL4550

DAL4550

I applaud you. In my line of work, I took an oath to uphold the constitution. I do so at every turn. Although now retired, I did not retire my adherence to the vow that I took.

I push back every time when I am presented with someone doing a search without probable cause. Whether it is on my body, or belongings. To not do so is Un-American. It may not be the easiest course of action, but it is the correct one. I will never stand with my hands above my head as if I am being arrested at gunpoint.

To those that see nothing wrong with this....where is the point that you finally say no? For some, that point may never come. For others, it will be too late.

GaryD

But, it's wrong. As a U.S. citizen, I have a greater responsibility to do something about that, than a non-citizen does.

I would never suggest that citizens of another country should "suck it up with minimal complaint" if their government unreasonably searched them and seized their propety in a way that I didn't mind.