Up against the wall! And thanks for cooperating.
I have tried to avoid air travel in the United States ever since the Feds took over "security" which means they harass hundreds of millions of passengers a year and act like mini Nazis. On my most recent flight into the US I actually decided to travel via Mexico just to avoid US air space. I drove into the US and then took a bus for the last leg of my journey. But even the bus was stopped by federal agents who demanded that everyone aboard provide "papers please."
There may be no law mandating an internal passport for the United States but what does not exist de jure does exist de facto. Americans are now among the least free people when it comes to travel. One can not drive without a license which one is mandated to carry on their person. The Feds are there to make it virtually impossible for one to fly without ID as well. Interstate bus trips are stopped by federal agents who demand ID from passengers. Even commuters on local buses have been hauled off for not providing ID to demanding federal agents. Freedom to travel is gone without a document from the Feds. "Small government" conservatives are the ones who brought this about.
After six months in the US I had enough and decided to leave again. And due to a combination of events that I had to attend, flying within the US was the only option. I flew out of Denver. And again it appeared as if I were singled out for extensively personal treatment -- perhaps that is why the US government frequently visits my web sites?
First, I go through the normal routine. Carry on luggage is scanned and I walk through the metal detector. Nothing! But that did not satisfy them. "Sir, you have been picked for secondary inspection," I was told. Secondary inspection? It makes it sound as if I'm a banana from El Salvador about to pass customs. I'm used to this. The few times I flew into the US I was regularly picked for "secondary inspection".
This time was even a surprise for me. First I stood in some large plastic box which no doubt was doing something that was not obvious to me. After a minute inside the box I was told to sit down. They ran their little wand device up and down my legs and arms. Nothing. Oh, the disappointment they must have experienced. Then they ran some device up and down my shoes to "test" them. Again more disappointment.
But they still weren't finished. Now I had to stand up while they did the wand test all over again paying special attention to the front and back of my torso. How nice of them. Now I would have figured that after scanning me, my carry on baggage, using the "box", the wand, the shoe tester, and the wand again they would have been finished. Nope! After finding nothing with the previous six tests they now go to a "pat down" search. Here a stranger gets to put his hands on your body to see if you are carrying anything on your body. And one can't protest as these gods of the airport can ban you from travelling for not obeying their orders and doing so cheerfully. Even a small wise crack can put you in handcuffs. And Americans line up by the millions daily and take it. So much for the "land of the free".
After a long flight I arrive in Europe. As I'm unpacking my luggage I find a little note left inside my bag by the Feds. It was a "Notice of Baggage Inspection". Not only had they scanned my luggage but they opened it and went through it. The notice told me it was for my own good of course. That made me feel so much better.
The notice said that if the Travel Gestapo was "unable to open your bag for inspection because it was locked, the screener may have been forced to break the locks on your bag." But the Gestapo "sincerely regrets having to do this" but they are "not liable for damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution." So if the government breaks your locks they are not responsible for the damage. If they aren't responsible then precisely who is?
Now they constantly warn you that for security purposes you must not allow others access to your luggage. After all we would not want bin Laden placing bombs in your suitcase. Locking your suitcase prevents others from tampering with them. But the government requires you to either use locks where thousands of keys are floating about that will open them or the Feds will destroy your locks by cutting them open. The government requires you to use locks that can opened by strangers all across the country. And this is done in the name of security.
We are supposed to "trust" government. It would never be a travel Nazi who gets bought off by terrorists. Never! Much the way the vice squad is never in the pay of brothel owners and DEA agents have never been paid off by drug dealers. I would suspect that having locks that can easily be opened by others does more to make baggage insecure than anything else. And I don't feel particularly good about the idea that anyone's locked luggage can be opened by government bureaucrats at their will.
Now the real insult out of all of this was the closing lines of the "notice" from the Travel Gestapo: "We appreciate your understanding and cooperation." My cooperation! Cooperation is joint, voluntary action. The woman is not cooperating with the rapists just because she doesn't resist since he says he will kill her if she does. The victim is not cooperating with his mugger when he hands over his wallet at the point of a gun. And I never cooperated with the Gestapo. Cooperation implies choice and I had none.
To question these midget dictators is to put yourself in unpleasant circumstances. At best you could be denied the right to travel completely. If these bureaucrats have haemorrhoids that day you could easily find yourself in jail. If you resist being manhandled, groped, insulted, or ordered about you can be shot. When people have this much power over you it is not understanding and cooperation that you are giving but acquiescence and obedience. Zieg heil.
At the very least don't insult our intelligence with notes thanking us for understanding and cooperation. You have fondled us without our consent. You have probed and scanned us without mercy. You have stripped off our shoes, laid bare our underwear for the world to see. You have ordered us about, dictated to us, rifled through our belongings. You get away with it because you are armed and you can and will do nasty things to us if we fail to obey the commands you bark out at us. But please don't insult us by pretending that our reluctant obedience is cooperation and our acquiescence is understanding.
Now I can only hope that this last flight through the US is my last. If I were a praying person that would be high on my list. I don't want to endure the US Travel Gestapo ever again. To all those tourists the world over I merely point out that we have a vast, fascinating world and in most places you won't be mistreated the way you are by the US bureaucrats. Give the US a miss. As for my fellow Americans: I can understand why you might fly out. I just can't comprehend why you go back.
All items in this journal reflect the personal opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of the Institute for Liberal Values or its Board members.
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Institute for Liberal Values, Wednesday February 10th 2010. |
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