Janet Napolitano spoke today from of all places Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington DC. I can't think of a greater insult to the man who fought against the Soviet Union and won without firing a shot. Let's think back to the 1980s, when communism was a common word and with that word was the reminder of what it meant with a Wall stretching across Europe to keep people in with various checkpoints at the Wall, airports, and other points of interest throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
How sad is it, that within two decades of the fall of the Wall in Eastern Europe and the disappearance of many of these checkpoints, similar checkpoints have spread across the United States--checkpoints that ask Americans to give up their Constitutional rights and subject themselves to compliance of humiliation--naked body scans and full frontal groping of men, women, teenagers, and until today children under 12. So what an insult it is that Janet Napolitano decided to address the future of the TSA and these checkpoints at Ronald Reagan National.
It was Reagan's determination, determination that ignored the State Department's request and demand to remove the most famous words ever uttered at the Berlin Wall. "Tear down this wall."
As America creates its own version of a wall with a system of oppressive checkpoints, I wonder if Reagan was alive today and in good health, would we hear something similar from his great lips?
These the beginnings of profound changes our United States towards soft tyranny and oppression. Token gestures, intended to raise the illusion of security destroys the vision of freedom. We don't welcome this change and new power of the federal government; for we believe that freedom should not be sacrificed for security, that oppressive tyranny in the form of national security cannot advance human liberty. There is one sign the Ms. Napolitano can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom in the United States.
Secretary Napolitano, if you seek the continuation of freedom and liberty, if you seek prosperity for the people of the United States, if you seek the message of the founding fathers who shared the common belief that those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither: End this madness! Ms. Napolitano, open the gate of free travel without harassment in the United States! Ms. Napolitano, tear down these oppressive airport checkpoints that are robbing our liberty and humiliating our people!
Yes, I do believe Mr. Reagan would have spoken for freedom over these checkpoints that threaten to expand from our airports to our train stations and into our courts, schools, and even neighborhoods. That's right, I said neighborhoods. The federal government has a mobile version of these checkpoints that are capable of x-raying the contents of your house and car, known as Z Backscatter Vans. President Reagan wouldn't approve of the American police state that has been created 21 years after he left office.
