So I traveled this past week for business and got me thinking, we always hear that having a driver's license is a privilege and not a right. Well isn't the ability to travel on a airplane a similar privilege? If so, are we really giving up any of freedom when we fly? Aren't we just choosing to fly thus we have to follow the rules in place no matter how inane or intrusive? Personally I'll just go through the body scan, but I understand why people wouldn't want to, I also understand why they don't want a full body pat down. I'm just wondering do we really have a choice other than to choose to fly or not?
The sad thing is the political correctness tends to make our security measures pretty much a waste of time. We should use more of the Israeli model and quit with the silly time wasters on small children and grandparents.
I don't like the rhetoric surrounding Privileges vs. Rights as they pertain to government regulations. I believe everything is a right until we the people voluntarily give the government power to regulate an activity in order to protect more important rights like the right to life. The reason this matters is when people have a right, the government has to justify taking it away. When something is a privilege, the consumer has to justify getting it. This gives unreasonable power to the government. A consumer should not have to justify wanting to drive or flying on a plane. Privileges ought to belong to the person or company that created a product. For example, buying a Toyota car is a privilege granted by Toyota to a consumer. The government did not create the automobile or aviation industry therefore the burden of proof for them to regulate it is on them. Driving a car can potentially kill someone but statistically is so rare that is not enough to impose undue regulations on people. Drivers licenses and speed limits are reasonable, random roadside checkpoints are not. For aviation passengers I think the body scanners and pat downs are too much. It's like using an atom bomb to kill a rat. Millions of flyers will be subjected to invasive searches without a warrant or probable cause all because they want to fly on a commercial airplane. I don't consider it a privilege to fly on an airplane, I consider it a right in any modern society that can only be mitigated with strong justification from the government and consent of the people.
One Amendment stands out above the rest of the Bill of Rights as a guarantee of freedom. Not coincidentally, it is by far the most trampled and ignored part of the BoR.
Trying to push the surveillance onto a group that doesn't include you isn't right. That's still subjecting them to intrusive searches without reason. You should be fighting for their rights if you expect them to fight for yours.
All this whining about scanners is so much bs. How much privacy did you have in the gym shower when in school? You have a lot more at the airport. In a country where I have to live in the same county as people who believe in UFOs, witches, angels and the Dallas Cowboys, it seems a little ridiculous to whine about thorough searches when boarding an airplane.
