Why is Security a Class Issue?

The Politics of Inconvenience

Apparently Americans feel more secure the more they're inconvenienced. The more the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) harasses fliers, the safer fliers believe the country is.

Politicians appreciate this misguided confidence. Unwilling and unable to counter every invasion or attack, a false sense of security is the best they have to offer.

But the new Democratic House Majority reasoned that if our security is truly worth ensuring, let's focus on the most likely terrorist opportunities, not the ones they've already used. Why not inspect the millions of containers that fly in and out of the country each year?

And while inspection of all air and sea cargo freight seems like a real security enhancement, it just doesn't inconvenience the public enough to inspire false confidence. But it does require business to join the anti-terrorist campaign.

Wow, asking for accountability from the lobbyists employers! Yikes! What were they thinking.

Regardless that experts had long warned that our entry points were the least secure and most dangerous opportunities for terrorists, Republicans were incensed that corporate America might have to join the national security effort.

Where many see catastrophe, others see new technologies and improved information flow. Imagine 21st century commerce jump started by the Democrats! Of course the Republicans won't realize this for a few years...until the new companies that emerge can afford lobbyists to grease their wheels.

Companies routinely fly private jets to avoid security searches the rest of us endure, even though there's an obvious terrorist opportunity here. And you know that the Homeland Security folks aren't about to inconvenience Bush's well-heeled friends.

You don't believe that it's blatant cronyism and lobbyist cash that's preventing yours and my security? Consider that the last congress turned over the responsibility for the security of some of our most dangerous targets to...the industry itself. The chemical industry quickly responded by doing nothing, which seemed not to bother the Republican congress.

Since you and I don't grease their already greasy palms, we give up our shampoo and water bottles, take off our shoes and wait in interminable lines.

But God forbid truly dangerous situations are addressed by the business community.

If they don't have a responsibility to enhance our security, why should I? Get the TSA out of the airports and give me back my shampoo.

I'm less potentially dangerous than all the shipping containers, nuclear plants and chemical facilities which the Republicans think need no intrusive inspection.