For the Price of an Airline Ticket

I recently read some more ridiculous stories about the unholy escapades of the TSA.  So many of the people who comment on these stories says that they would never allow that to happen to them, but statistics, and more to the point, results, say differently.  We do what “must be done” in the airports of our nation because we are not willing to compromise our comfortable lifestyles one iota in order to stop these hirelings, who follow unconstitutional laws, from invading our persons.  It might make us late.  It might even get us detained.  We’d better just “go along.”

When this started we were outraged!  I'll never do that!  I'll never let that happen to my wife, child, grandma, etc...!  But they instituted it over a busy holiday season after everyone had already purchased their tickets home, and so, they caved in, sold their rights for the price of an airline ticket.  

We said, “How long before it is trains or buses?” and now it is trains and buses.  How long now before it is freeways?   It has begun:  The land of intrusive checkpoints.  The 4th amendment is no more.  We gave it up when we decided to subject ourselves and our children to unlawful search and seizure.   We allowed it, and they encroached a little more and a little more, until they got it all.  They know that when you will sell your personal space, your modesty, the privacy of your very body, AND THAT OF YOUR CHILD, you have nothing left that is beyond their reach.

But we allow it.  We don't want to waste the purchase price of the ticket.  We don’t want to be inconvenienced.   We don't want to be late for work or some event.  We don't want to lose an extra day's pay for the time it would take to drive.  We don't want to endure the day long trip in a car with a fussy toddler or an incontinent old person.  We don't want to cut into our vacation time.  So we sell our freedom and we sell our countrymen out in the process, all for the price of an airline ticket.

As I mentioned, they instituted this infringement on us during the busiest travel holiday of the year.  They KNEW that once people had set a vacation plan and bought a ticket that they would do whatever was told them on the day of the trip, telling themselves in their minds, “Well, it’s wrong, and I’ll oppose it later, when I have time and not so much at stake.”  They knew.  And they knew once the people allowed this violation that all their prior resolve would be gone.  They knew they could continue and advance to greater levels.  They knew that they could aggressively invade a few here and a few more there, but that the vast majority would not be “overly inconvenienced” and would therefore remain silent. 

Soon it will be all of us.  ALL will be subject to the government’s search and seizure, whenever and wherever they choose.

We have to be willing to sacrifice some of our conveniences.  I just don't fly.  They will do what they will, and I don’t want to participate in any of it.  I'll sacrifice time, a few hours on the paycheck and a little comfort, and allow extra time to take a different means of transportation.  I am by no means a frequent flyer, so that is the best solution for me.   If I choose to fly at some point, I have to be willing to stand for my rights as a free citizen and face the consequences. 

Sadly, my little piece of the pie being absent from the pie isn’t hurting the whole pie much.  It’s the frequent fliers who need to be forcing their hand.   Unfortunately, they are also the most impacted, the ones most likely to suffer consequences, and the least likely to rebel against it.  They are empowering the TSA and the powers that be to successfully violate the public at will. 

So what do we do? I don’t have a great and final answer.  My best answer is, don’t be worn down.  They are counting on Americans either getting used to it or being worn down to the point that we don’t fight it.  I'm sad to say, I think we may be to a point where it could take some heinous action on the part of TSA or some affiliate agency to cause civil unrest on a scale big enough to affect change.  It could come in a less than pleasant way.  Our culture has grown so fat and lazy that to actually have to sacrifice or fight for a cause that's not for our own personal gain has become distasteful to us.  We'll have to have something happen that will override the selfishness and laziness enough to jolt us into action.  I hate to think of what it could be,  I really do.

Just do not be worn down.   "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."  Galatians 6:9  Above all, pray.  Only God can sort this out and bring leaders to the forefront.  We need Him.

(photo credit)