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Howell-at-the-Moon

!Libertarian Rants!   John Wingspread Howell

Transportation InSecurity

Airport Harassment
Highway Robbery

But it won't spoil my vacation!

July 17, 2008

I just got back from a three-city air circuit and am getting ready to take my family on a ten day, six thousand mile circle tour of the American West in the SUV we bought this past April. It takes a lot of determination to hold on to the American Dream of free travel (and I mean free in the sense of liberty, not the absence of cost) but dammit, I'm going to!

You could say this is a continuation of my column on attitude. The United States has led the world in prosperity and power for most of our history because we have been a nation of persistence, determination, and optimism. We never met a crisis we couldn't endure. We have been undaunted by obstacles. We have found away around road blocks. We have reinvented the wheel whenever we've needed a better mousetrap. And we have traveled when, where, and how we have wanted to no matter what!

I remember as a kid, the Chevy commercials: "See the USA in your Chevrolet. America is asking you to call." I think of all the lore around Route 66. And I think of the airports as they were before September eleven-- in fact, as they were in the sixties and before, when anyone could go to the gate area to see someone off or welcome someone or just go to watch the planes come and go. That's the real America! Driving cross country. Flying cross country. Planes coming and going. People coming and going watching planes coming and going. Not being treated like terrorists in our own country. 

As I suffer the "Transportation Security Agency" every time I fly, I wonder if this is the administration's idea of trying to make people feel safe. Certainly even the Bush administration can't seriously believe we are stopping one terrorist by what we're doing in the airports. We are probably stopping numerous lawful citizens from even attempting to travel, but the terrorists are not only undaunted, they are thrilled that we have played into their hands so nicely and stopped being America. Meanwhile, they may be plotting their next attack-- which will have absolutely nothing to do with airplanes or airports.

Like any other "card carrying Libertarian" worth their card, I'm all for the immediate dismantling of the entire Homeland Security Department and the TSA. But-- if they have to do something, why aren't they going through shipping containers the way they took apart my suitcase yesterday? Why aren't they watching the water supply or the nuclear plants? And why isn't anyone who wants to watch the planes land or greet Aunt Sue at the gate, able to do so? Now that's a great way to fight terrorism. Stick it to them. Hit them where it really hurts! Like not being afraid of them. Not letting them cramp our style. Open up the airports like it's 1966. That would go a long way toward putting the fun back in travel again.

Now as far as seeing the USA in the Chevrolet, for our family it will be the Lincoln SUV that we bought for cash in a fire sale. The price of gas finally got high enough to make these babies a real bargain even with the price of gas factored in!  The cost of gas is far outweighed by the great deal on a nearly new luxury vehicle with all the bells and whistles and all-wheel-drive for the Illinois winters. So I'm taking my eleven year old daughter who's never been West of the Mississippi, and my wife who's never been on the ground between Iowa and California for an old fashioned American road trip.

We're starting at Mt. Rushmore, going through the Rockies and cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway (if it's not still on fire) and we're going to have the time of our lives being Americans, seeing America, enjoying our  liberty, our freedom to travel. We'll put a big sign on the back of the Aviator that reads  What Price of Gas? And since we'll be making our own family "Western," how about this: "Hybrids? We don't need no stinking hybrids!"

Now, this is not about denying the depletion of oil reserves or the ozone layer. Most Libertarians are as concerned about both as Al Gore is (with different solutions, perhaps), present company included. It's about being undaunted. Making lemonade from lemons. Refusing to let circumstances beat us. Resolving to be free, to be joyful, optimistic, and to celebrate the moment! That's what freedom, liberty, and being American is all about. And the only party you can trust to protect that for you, regardless of what the others may say-- as the vote to allow spying on citizens, is the Libertarian Party.

So... since I'll be touring, don't expect any new content for a couple of weeks, but we'll  be back with a travelogue in early August.

In the meantime, help me out by sending me your TSA horror stories,  your fantasies about how to frustrate the airport security system, and your best acronyms using the initials TSA. I'll publish them all!   (And lets see if the data miners flag this email and start spying on me!)

Note: Here's the first TSA horror story reply, from Sean Haugh.  See his submission at the Liberty For All blog. http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=1190

Update: I flew again last week (9/17) and I was very reassured to see that TSA "Officers" now have royal blue shirts with more official looking seals on their upper sleeves, a badge, and a metallic name tag, that says "officer" after Bubba's name, to be sure all travelers know these people are indeed a study in professionalism and security. I felt so much safer. 

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