There has been so much written about the outrages by TSA agents during screenings, that I won’t belabor the details.
In a nation already revolting at the ballot box against overly intrusive government, the prospect of having your junk fondled out of bureaucratic inflexibility and political correctness is feeding the anger. Providing security at airports and generally is a perfectly appropriate role for government. But the seemingly mindless TSA screening procedures show what happens when bureaucracy takes over.
I mostly agree with Doug Mataconis that Obama is completely tone deaf on this issue:
Obama’s response strikes me as being politically tone deaf. In the face of outrage over Americans being groped by TSA agents, children being man-handled in a bizarre procedure that makes no logical sense, and people being exposed to the humiliation of having prosthetic breasts removed or being covered in their own urine, Obama’s “Too bad, you’ve gotta do it anyway” response is a sign of how far removed from reality the Presidency makes a person.
I disagree with that last clause, however, because not all Presidents would fail to feel the people’s pain. The aloofness of this President is unique.
The TSA screening line is the new Town Hall.
Citizen reporters have been filming TSA screenings and posting the videos on YouTube, much like citizen reporters filmed arrogant Congressmen treating Town Hall participants dismissively and arrogantly.
And there is another connection between the TSA screenings and the Town Halls.
The frustration which boiled over in the summer of 2009 was a reaction to fears about giving the federal government the ultimate power over our bodies through the control of health care.
The TSA screening fiasco should remind people of why they opposed government control of health care.
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