FLYING USED TO BE FUN

 

Now there is a blast from the past.  That video shows what flying was like when I first flew on major airlines.  Just in case you have never had that experience flying, I thought you might enjoy seeing what it used to be like...and what it should be like.

I used to love to fly.  In past years I have flown from Columbus, Ohio to Chicago, Ilinois, from Ohio to San Diego, California, from California to Ohio and back again, from North Carolina to Florida and to New York City, and to Colorado.  When I first started flying anywhere I remember the excitement of holding an airline ticket in my hand, the anticipation of soaring over the clouds, sitting in a roomy seat with flight attendants who actually made you comfortable, real meals served, and no fear. It was an event. People used to dress nicely to travel. Polite consideration was shown by all airline personnel to their customers. It sounds idyllic and could not possibly be true, but it is true. It used to be a great experience. I am sad that experience has disappeared and people can no longer have that enjoyable anticipation and feeling of flying in safe hands.  It was a part of a gentile society and, looking back, it was an example of what customer service meant.

Fast forward to 2010.  You would think I would blame terrorists for breaking our reverie.  But while they deserve all the blame for their assaults on America and others,  I blame our government for misusing terrorism to bully us and wreck our lives.  The same government that is supposed to protect our borders, is doing no better at protecting the flying public.  The government reaction to terrorism is directed at innocent people.  How cowardly is that?  When flying, now we anticipate fear. Fear of terrorists has become secondary to fear of our government "Transportation Safety Administration." If Osama Bin Ladin wanted to inflict agony on Americans, he certainly succeeded, with the help of our Federal government turning into Nazi jackboots. People who have no connection to airlines are now in charge of making your experience not just uncomfortable, but hellish.

We experience cramped seats with people crammed in like sardines, as airlines stuff as many people into a plane to try to make flying still a profitable business while fighting government regulations, the high cost of fuel, and the inept TSA.   Meals are a thing of the distant past..along with snacks, peanuts and the like. We experience airports so crowded that you only hope you can make a connection or get through a security line to make your flight. For the last few years we watch old people and tiny children taking off their shoes and shedding their carry-on bags for x-rays. We are herded like cattle through bureaucratic screenings, treated impersonally and lined up like those led to slaughter. Flying has become a dreaded necessity for those who must do it. Flying for vacations has become the worst part of the trip. 

And not one terrorist has been apprehended using the TSA screenings.  Not one.  Seriously folks, while the media and TSA put all of these techniques out there for everyone in the world to see, what terrorists is going to show up for the groping??  So, you might say, "Gee, isn't that a good thing?"  Or, "Gee, see how adept we are at preventing a terrorist from flying on our airlines?"  C'mon.  Really?  All this enhanced screening has done is target average everyday flyers who have no connection to terrorism.  And if we are serious about apprehending or ridding our world of terrorism, why are we not sending some trained killers to Yemen?  Not us.  No, we'll just make all Americans miserable, interrupt everyone else's life, traumatize children and people with disabilities, and pretend we are making the world safer.  

So, who has paid the price of the acts of terrorists? The terrorists are laughing at this. Innocent Americans are paying the price for what some seriously insane people have done and are trying to do.  What is the solution to this?

Which brings me to two things. Justice and the Fourth Amendment to the Bill of Rights.

First, justice. In the name of justice, who is supposed to get punished?  Innocent bystanders?  Innocent victims?  Funny, I thought the perpetrators of crimes and wars were supposed to be punished.  Not innocent people. Has Osama Bin Ladin somehow convinced the leaders and politicians of America that the citizens of this good country should be punished for his deeds?  Wow!  Not only is he a terrorist using planes and bombs, but he managed to create a breakdown of psychological sanity in an entire country?  I can only conclude that the TSA gropes and scans are following the desires of our leaders and politicians and Bin Ladin has created a convenient excuse to sidestep the necessary justice which should befall every terrorist, thereby wrecking the peace and security of each innocent citizen in this dear United States of America.

Second, The Fourth Amendment to the Bill of Rights which reads:  "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

From that Constitutional guarantee I can only conclude that the leaders and politicians of our country have decided to completely ignore the Constitution in order to fulfill some unwarranted desire for power and for the expressed purpose of undermining the Constitution and our Justice system. 

Can you honestly say you prefer assaults on children and people with prosthetics, in order to secure a place on a flight?  Can you honestly say you think we are better off for all the money and effort spent to take away our liberties?  Who won this one, folks?  Hint: it was not the American people or the U.S. Constitution.

Hat tip:

Amerian Thinker Article by Wesley Clark, MD