As you probably know, there is a big controversy in the US over the Transport Security Agency’s plans to give every air passenger a choice between invasive X-Rays or a rather thorough grope.
Needless to say, I and most civil libertarians disagree with this plan, which is not only a massive invasion of individual rights, but an unnecessary and unhelpful to the increasing airline safety.
But that is rather expected. What is more interesting is the fact that many of my Republican friends (at least on Facebook) are rallying against this expansion of government. And not just the libertarian types either, but the bona fide conservatives as well. I find this particularly fascinating since the conservatives had never truly walked the walk when it came to individual rights and national security.
I guess we’re seeing some good out of the Tea Party at last. Perhaps we may even see sensible safety measures introduced rather than terribly invasive procedures which we have implemented just to feel safe. In Australia, we need to implement some of the measures from the Wheeler Report which still have yet to be adopted – mostly surrounding cargo security, an area which is completely untouched. We need to redact the more useless security measures imposed on passengers, like X-raying shoes and prohibitions on liquids.
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