It’s gratifying to see state and local politicians speak out and propose bills against TSA tyranny, but it won’t make a difference until or unless state and local communities are willing to secede partially or wholly from federal domination. The only ones who can stop TSA tyranny are the feds, that means congress and the president.
I say this not to rain on anyone’s parade but to adjust people’s expectations so you don’t spend all your energy lobbying state and local politicians or have your hopes destroyed when that angle doesn’t work out.
12 Responses to State and Local Politicians can not Fix the TSA
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Half-truth. State and local authorities can’t do anything directly. This is true. However. It can be argued that our best bet for dealing with this it to get state government on our side. State government, in turn, has a better chance of influencing the federal government, who can directly affect change.
It’s still a game of persuasion and influence. Passing laws at any level but federal has no impact.
I think you missed my point. I didn’t say anything about laws. It’s not a matter of passing local laws. It’s a question of how best to influence the feds, who can deal with TSA. Will the feds listen to you or me? Not terribly likely. But you know who they WILL listen to? State Senators. It’s all about chain of command, brother. Generals don’t listen to privates. But they may listen to lieutenants. And lieutenants listen to privates. Like it or not, in the eyes of the feds, we’re privates.
Don’t underestimate the power of a passionate, informed and motivated individual.
You don’t have to go through state and local politicians or bureaucrats in order to impact the feds.
Just a few of us had a huge impact directly on the TSA last Thanksgiving. We can do it again.
I hereby promote you to general.
If you can’t cure the disease, fight the symptoms. Start arresting and prosecuting the TSA agents, for violating sexual predator laws, as well as any others that can be tied to their behaviors.
If word gets around, among them, that they will be held liable, for any acts that qualify as criminal, they will not be so quick to commit them. Even if convictions are overturned, by a federal appeals court, they’ve still had to spend the money, for defense attorneys and filing fees, for appeals. Generally, make life as difficult for them, as possible, legally.
Do you really think state and local DA’s and Attorneys General are going to arrest TSOs for anything new? Those people are ambitious. They want to get promoted. And that is not the way.
State and local governments are on the verge of bankruptcy. They depend on handouts from the feds. They are in a worse position than ever to resist.
Having federal employees arrested for doing federally-mandated tasks is a quick way to lose your job in local government. There’s also a question of jurisdiction, violation of which is a sure-fire way to lose your job.
In other words, no one’s going to arest the TSA for doing their job. Our only hope is to get the feds to CHANGE their job. Or at least ban their current MO.
Amen
That it. The States CAN do something about it. The States’ attorneys general and county sheriffs (both elected officers) can empower local law enforcement to arrest TSA “screeners” for “doing their jobs”. Feel outside the pants, misdemeanor. Feel inside the pants, felony.
If the TSA can’t hire screeners, then the TSA can’t work.
It’s against their own self-interest to do it. Sheriffs kicking feds out etc is not going to happen until there is a sea change in the population.
Let’s KEEP UP with the boicots, adding a little bit of anormality and should work.
The Feds take on power when it is in the national interest, where uniformity is a huge benefit such as safety in products and workplaces (1 set of laws to adhere to makes manufacturing cheaper), or in single Federally-supported entities that cross state lines (US highways and Interstates for instance).
The other time the Feds take power is when states cede powers to them through inaction. While airports and locally owned and operated (usually through either local government or a pseudo-governmental port authority) and you’d think the Feds have no business operating there, the Feds can claim it is in the public interest to have a common safety procedure.
The flaws behind the last assumption are that one size fits all and that what they do is actually effective. It hasn’t caught anyone yet (no TSA checkpoints have been blown up upon detection of a bomb), and the objects they’ve prevented into getting on board planes we can probably assume would not have been used to hijack planes since they have missed guns and knives in the past and yet no planes have been hijacked.
What I hope is that these state bills criminalizing TSA show the government that its seizure of power in locally-controlled sites is unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment and that states ARE taking the initiative so the Feds don’t have to.