The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite. – Thomas Jefferson

Six months ago, when I embarked on writing my upcoming book, entitled Rape and Pillage, I had no idea the TSA would turn it into such a chillingly literal description of what is happening to the people of this once-free land.  In the course of a decade we have gone from being greeted by loved ones at the gate to saying goodbye at the security check, then to removing our shoes, surrendering our liquids, and now to being seen naked by a stranger or alternatively being fondled by a different stranger.

This week saw video released of a small boy being partially stripped at a security check.  The father is required to take off the boy’s shirt so it can be more thoroughly examined and this innocent child is left half-naked as an agent rubs his hands up and down the boy’s legs and into his groin.  Pedophiles will be lining up for these jobs.  As an adult at least I can somewhat rationalize the reason I am asked to submit to this invasive and odious procedure.  How do we explain to our children why exactly we are standing meekly aside and allowing a stranger to touch them in places we have deemed private and off limits for anyone but the doctor or us?  Are we to now teach our children that anyone with a badge or an air of authority is also allowed to touch them there?  Will our schools now start indoctrinating our children that the “Uh-oh feeling” is only a problem if someone other than government workers is touching them?

Look I agree, 9/11 was a horrible day.  3,000 of our people were killed in a shocking blow that many of us never believed could be struck here at home.  But let us please have some perspective.  The crazies in government always want to tell us that we have to do things to be safe; that no price is too high and “It’s worth it if just one life is saved!”

Is it really?

In 2006 over 40,000 people were killed in car accidents.  Should we ban cars?  We could have saved 40,000 lives!  Why is that price too high?  How about drunk driving?  In 2008 over 13,000 were killed in alcohol-related car accidents.  Why not hire a BATF Agent to stand at the door of every establishment in the country that serves alcohol and administer a breathalyzer to every driving patron?  Would that price be too high?  Worried about terrorists sneaking stuff onto airplanes?  Maybe we should all undergo a cavity search and fly naked and without luggage.  Is that price too high?

The funny thing is, I don’t know.  I know the price is too high for me, but is it for you?  Maybe you are comfortable with Naked Airlines.  Fine.  But this is why government monopoly on things like airport security is completely insane.  Shouldn’t I have the option of setting my own price?  Shouldn’t I be able to say, “Okay, I am with you on the shoes but don’t touch my kid’s junk?”  And I could do that if the government hadn’t cartelized the airlines and then monopolized their security procedures.  In a free market there would probably be some airlines that profiled Arab-looking men and gave them extra scrutiny and maybe I would be okay with patronizing such an airline, but you wouldn’t because you feel it’s rude to do that.  You might fly Naked Air just to be safe and that’s your prerogative.

Nothing the government is doing even makes us safer.  In fact it endangers us because there will be thousands of people like me who refuse to fly now.  I will take the statistically much higher risk to my own safety by driving instead of flying 2,800 miles round trip to visit family and I will put my children at that risk as well because I want to protect them from molestation by the government who claims to be keeping us safe.  How many more people will die on the roads in 2011 because they have been told that they must surrender themselves and their innocent children to a sexual assault if they want to fly?  Isn’t it patently obvious yet that the government is either not interested in keeping us safe or is indisputably incapable of doing so?

It is the government that has endangered us.  They’ve confiscated our right to defend ourselves and then say more citizen surrender is what it will take to defend us.  They’ve armed dictators they consider the lesser of two evils and then sent our sons and daughters to fight them when the deal goes bad.  Through regulation they’ve destroyed the entrepreneurship and entry-level jobs which once helped millions climb out of poverty and then claim they must steal from us to provide for the poor who cannot provide for themselves.  They’ve impotently allowed terrorists onto planes only to have the plots foiled by the passengers, but now claim removing the prosthetic breast of a cancer survivor and sticking their hands down women’s pants are just the keys to avoiding a repeat.  How long will we put up with their bumbling attempts to correct the errors of over-centralization with yet more centralization?  How long will the people across the political spectrum believe the lie that it is We the People divided against one another and ignore the increasingly, terrifyingly, obvious fact that the true war is between the preservation of our liberty and the monstrous bureaucracy that would take it from us?

SNL gives us a good belly laugh regarding the TSA pat down procedures!  As horrible as these intrusions are, we need a chuckle every now and then so sit back and enjoy.