Why Mitt Romney Cannot Represent ALL Americans - And Why Christians Cannot Support Him.

A Response to Rep. Justin Amash's Call to Eliminate the TSA.....

As most have already heard, Sen. Paul was recently inconvenienced at a TSA checkpoint, and had to undergo a pat-down screening.  He has called for the elimination of the TSA for some time, and in the aftermath of the inconvenience he suffered, Rep. Amash has begun publicly calling for the same thing.  Congressman Amash went so far as to claim that Sen. Paul should have been exempt from secondary screening because his status as a senator provides him, under certain circumstances, with immunity from arrest.  While others continue to debate whether the protections afforded in the Constitution apply in this particular instance, I wish to address the bigger issue - one about which I have communicated with ALL of my legislators in D.C. on numerous occasions.


Here is the brief note I posted on Rep. Amash's FaceBook page in response to his call to "Free Rand Paul":

Now that we have your attention, I will ask the question again. I have written to your office about this before (as I have written to all of my legislators), and received a response detailing your concern about the potential for racial profiling.

When is the government finally going to let airport security (I don't care if it is the TSA or a private security company) begin working from known criminal/terrorist profiles (which happen to reference ethnicity), as is the case with all other law enforcement agencies, so that they can begin a more effective, more targeted approach to airport security? As Sen. Paul said himself, "We have to bring some sense to what we're doing in this country ... we treat everybody equally as a terrorist suspect." This is proof that, contrary to our public statements, the terrorists HAVE won, and our way of life, with its Constitutional protections, HAS been changed as a result of 9/11. It is one more example of how we have turned our backs on the Constitution as a result of public hysteria.

But as is true in so many cases, until a legislator or other ranking official is inconvenienced by the very processes they put in place, legislators will consider no alternatives. And if history is any indicator, the only change that will come as a result of this incident is that a bill will be passed exempting legislators and other select government officials from the screening process, while the rest of their constituents continue to slog through the process and innocent American Citizens continue to be treated as potential terrorists.

This is not a TSA issue.

This is the result of decisions by government officials, beginning with former Secretary Norman Mineta, not to do the sensible thing and look most closely at those who, according to the criminal profiles (from which airport security officers are not permitted to work) are the most likely to perpetrate the kinds of crimes the TSA was intended to prevent.

Maybe now we can begin to have a real discussion about what really needs to take place with airport security.