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.

By What Right?

          In the blogpost, Big Brother is Asking, I told everyone that the Census Bureau selected me to complete the American Community Survey (ACS).  Even though my compliance is required under Section 221 of Title 13 of the United States Code, I have refused.  It is worthwhile to remember that we the people are bound together under a constitution.  This mutually agreed upon social contract defines the limits of government, not the limits of our individual freedom.  So, I ask, by what right does the government require me to divulge detailed personal information?   

          Article one, section two, of the U.S. constitution originally stated that, “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers….”  To determine those respect numbers the section went on to authorizes the census.  Simply put, allocating taxes and representatives was the original purpose of the census.  The Fourteenth Amendment deleted the three-fifths rule from the section, but the amendment still states that, “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers….” Dividing representatives among the states remained the purpose of the census.  Politicians and the Census Bureau have perverted the original purpose of the census into a gross intrusion upon the privacy of Americans.       

          In stating his opposition to the ACS, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas said, the Founding Fathers “never authorized the federal government to continuously survey the American people. More importantly, they never envisioned a nation where the people would roll over and submit to every government demand.”  Congressman Paul is correct that the Founders never gave such intrusive census power to the government.  If the action of the government is unconstitutional then citizens have an obligation to resist.  I will not roll over and submit.  Fine me if you will, arrest me if you must, I will not complete the survey.