Does anyone really feel safer flying on airplanes because of airport security post 9/11? I don’t.
As we all know, after the disastrous events that took place on September 11, 2001, the security at airports nationwide underwent a serious revamp in an effort to prevent another terrorist attack like 9/11. This included the formation of the Transportation Security Administration, which I consider the most useless government agency that the federal government has, and the best example of how the federal government can’t do everything right.
The TSA has managed to waste billions in taxpayer money to create what many call a security theater: the illusion of safety through elaborate performance, while not actually protecting us.There are two main reasons I believe this, the first is that the fancy machines TSA likes to buy don’t work, and the second is that TSA employees tend to be incompetent, untrustworthy, and downright creepy. Let me explain:
We all know about the infamous and commonly used millimeter wave body scanners (not the no-longer used backscatter machines), often attacked for the privacy invasion from their nude scans, as well as for the radiation risk posed by them. The sad truth though is they don’t actually protect us. That’s why everyone should opt out of the full body scan when they travel, plus you get a pre-flight massage.
It’s possible to bring almost anything through these machines, as demonstrated by this video which went viral earlier this year made by Jonathan Corbett. You know what would have caught it? The metal detector. Yes that metal detector, the one we’ve been using for decades. So the TSA has spent billions of dollars on the millimeter wave body scanners, which don’t protect us, on top of the wasted millions for the failed backscatter machines. Do you feel safer because of them? I don’t.
The TSA does not hire the best and brightest to work at their checkpoints, they hire whoever they can get, including pedophiles, thieves, and more. This obviously leads to a lot of problems including:
- Guns manage to get through airport security all to often, here are two examples: Example 1, Example 2
- Employees regularly steal money, electronics, and other goods from passengers, as told by an ex-TSA agent.
- Frequently it is clear TSA employees have no respect for anyone, like the time a TSA employee poured the ashes of a traveler’s grandfather on the ground and then laughed about it.
- They also can be downright creepy, like the time they left a note about a woman’s vibrator in her bag.
The entire existence of the TSA is why I have trouble respecting any Republican who says President Obama is a wasteful spender, and that he needs to cut the deficit, or that President Obama is growing the federal government too much. Why? It was those same Republicans who voted in the TSA (as Pres. George W. Bush signed the bill). We need candidates who actually believe in cutting our wasteful spending, and focusing our money on things that work. Oh wait, we have one: his name is Gary Johnson.
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