Second Class Americans

          Hillary Clinton was quoted today as saying, she would avoid the TSA pat-downs.  That got me thinking, why has the response from congress to the pat-downs been so tepid?  Now I know why.  While your wife, teenage daughter and elderly mother are having their breasts and genitals groped, the police are escorting our elected officials around the TSA checkpoints. 

          The New York Times reports that Republican leader John Boehner was recently seen at Reagan National Airport where he smiled pleasantly at passengers as he walked by the security checkpoints.  When asked about it the Times reports that Michael Steel, Chairman of the Republican National Committee responded, “Mr. Boehner was not receiving special treatment.” Steel added that any member of Congress or administration official with a security detail is allowed to bypass security.  It appears that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is avoiding the pat-downs.     

            WorldNet Daily quotes Deborah Jacobs, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, as saying the TSA procedures, “appear to violate the constitutional right to privacy (4th Amendment). Taking naked pictures of men, woman and children? We think there are a lot of constitutional violations. Americans should not be treated like criminals.”  I hate it when this happens, but my belief in God-given rights and the Constitution force me, in this instance, to agree with the ACLU. 

          I am a law-abiding American citizen—I refuse to be treated like a criminal.  The TSA “enhanced” procedures are a violation of the fourth amendment.  The desire to travel is not probable cause to be frisked, groped and scanned; it is an assault.  Texas Congressman Ron Paul agrees and has introduced the “American Traveler Dignity Act.”  This legislation would remove any immunity from assault statutes TSA agents believe they have while groping innocent passengers.  However, if our elected officials and the courts insist that these invasive procedures continue, all Americans, pilots, elected officials and judges, should be subject to it.