Divest the TSA
One constant aspect of government is that any time it takes over some function, or says that it will provide some good or service that we citizens need, you can bet your butt that they will #$%& it up bigtime. That fact is on clear display these days, as yet another partial government shutdown has again affected the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), creating a living hell for air travelers.
TSA agents, having not received a paycheck since the shutdown started on February 14, figured that feeding their families via a side job is higher priority. As a result, security check-in lines are literally running out the door. At Hobby Airport (in my former hometown of Houston), lack of TSA agents is resulting in hundreds of travelers having queues three hours long.
What’s behind this? Well it seems that the two major political parties have locked horns over funding for Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). What the hell does ICE have to do with TSA, you may ask? Well, it seems that, when such political squabbles occur, politicians typically choose the most visible and consequential government functions they can find – you know, to emphasize how serious they are! So they chose NSA and airport security, which will definitely get the attention of anybody trying to travel by air. We can clearly say that our friends in government made their objections known quite well.
The costs to the public from this boondoggle are impossible to calculate. If we start with a conservative estimate of $25 per hour per person, let’s see … about 500 people, 3 hours … that calculates to over $37,000 down the toilet – and that’s just one airport! And even when TSA is fully staffed, we ALL spend an awful lot of valuable time in those $%&@ security lines. And that’s not counting the $11.5 Billion annually we taxpayers fork out for the TSA.
When government takes over providing something we need …
And where do I begin, describing the invasive, humiliating, privacy-destroying process that we, and our baggage, must endure? We must practically undress, and then re-dress afterwards. More times than I can count, I’ve had to remove my belt, only to have my pants sag, which then gets the attention of some handsy agent, who then must physically inspect my crotch to ensure I’m not hiding a weapon therein.
Right now is an excellent time to discuss government divestiture of TSA. Let’s hand this responsibility back to the airlines.
Ah, but you say: airlines are only interested in profit! Left to their own, they won’t invest the necessary resources to ensure that some terrorist hell-bent on airborne mayhem will succeed!
Hold on. There is no profit in an airplane hijacking, or a crash, or anything preventing the airline from delivering passengers to their destination. Airline owners have far more incentives than government bureaucrats to ensure that their product is safe. Crashes and hijackings can destroy an airline executive’s career. But for the bureaucrat, that sort of thing usually means bigger staff, bigger office, more rules to enforce, bigger responsibilities, more promotions.
And so, airlines have good reason to ensure that security screening, whatever form it takes, is convenient and effective. Note that different airlines may vary in their approach. Some may choose a very fast, very easy, very non-intrusive screening process. Others may be more rigorous and intense. Which is best? Let the market sort it out. Competition is a wonderful thing!
We, the flying public, have, for far too long now, put up with the NSA and their expensive, intrusive, time-consuming inspections. The public has been sold that it’s necessary ”for your own safety”. Baloney. It’s all just theatre. TSA inspections have never actually caught a terrorist, and prior attempts at airborne terrorism have been thwarted by diligent passengers and crew. Americans, stop giving away your freedom without a fight. As Benjamin Franklin wisely said: “Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.”
And as we’re seeing, the whole process is forever at the mercy of the next government shutdown. Let the airlines handle security, and this whole disgusting, expensive process will all be relegated to the history books.
There is a proper solution to the problem, which leads to me repeating myself ad nauseum.
- Government is supposed to protect our rights and our borders, not us individually, and they can't protect us individually, so stop expecting this from government
- The federal government has no Constitutional authority to provide security for airlines, so stop giving the government power it's not supposed to wield
- Those in government are only able to shut down government, and "services" like TSA, because they are able to get away with writing ridiculously long bills that include within the same bill everything from farming to pharmaceuticals, so limit the government to single-issue bills
I could go on and on, but you get the point.