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Abolish the TSA on the White House Gov

sephiroth2009

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A petition to abolish the TSA has appeared on the White House.gov website, with the massive response evidence of how infuriated Americans have become at being groped not only at airport, but also highways, sports stadiums and at other public venues.

The petition appears on the “We The People” section of WhiteHouse.gov, a new feature intended to be “a new, easy way for Americans to make their voice heard in our government.”

The petition already has almost 8,000 signatures, and has already passed the 5,000 mark required for it to receive some kind of response from WhiteHouse.gov.

It is entitled “Abolish the TSA, and use its monstrous budget to fund more sophisticated, less intrusive counter-terrorism intelligence,” and the full text reads as follows.

The Transportation Security Administration has been one of the largest, most expensive and most visible blunders of the post-9-11 homeland security reformation. It has violated countless constitutional rights of average Americans, caused miserable and expensive delays in an already-overburdened air travel system, and allowed multiple known instances of harassment, theft, extortion and sexual abuse by its employees. It has failed approximately 70% of undercover efficacy tests, and for all its excesses, has been unable to catch even a single terrorist since its creation. In our current economic situation, we can no longer afford to continue wasting taxpayer dollars on this kafkaesque embarrassment. Let us instead invest in saner, more effective solutions.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/abolish-tsa-and-use-its-monstrous-budget-fund-more-sophisticated-less-intrusive-counter-terrorism/c7L94bFB

Thank God.
 
I'm all for improving airport security measures, but abolishing the TSA is just dumb. With the exception of two instances I know of, every modern attack or attempt has involve air travel. Getting rid of security involved in air travel is irresponsible.
 
I'm all for improving airport security measures, but abolishing the TSA is just dumb. With the exception of two instances I know of, every modern attack or attempt has involve air travel. Getting rid of security involved in air travel is irresponsible.

Abolishing the TSA =/= getting rid of security.
 
Before TSA, there was private-sector security. I am against the idea of abolishing the TSA and I do believe in deregulation. But corporations can be evil and cut corners. If we abolish the TSA, we can turn it over to private sector. But we would have to regulate it. And we do not want some private-sector guy afraid of loosing profits and putting lives in danger.
 
So we had no security before TSA?

Not what I said. I'm saying we do not currently have any system in place to replace the TSA.

Also, you'll note that security prior to 9/11 led to people taking over planes with box cutters.
 
the TSA simply follows the rules that are written for them. Congress could change these rules if they wanted to.
 
Not what I said. I'm saying we do not currently have any system in place to replace the TSA.

Also, you'll note that security prior to 9/11 led to people taking over planes with box cutters.

Sure we do, all those government employees with those nifty uniforms can easily be transferred over to whatever private firm takes over in an individual airport.

As far as oversight, the system can be modeled from the way seaport passenger terminals are operated. Privatized with federal oversight via an inspection regime.
 
Not what I said. I'm saying we do not currently have any system in place to replace the TSA.

Also, you'll note that security prior to 9/11 led to people taking over planes with box cutters.

And what I'm saying is that we had a system in place BEFORE 9/11, and they could have enhanced security over that to try to prevent that again. It didn't need an entirely new government organization to overly police airport security. 9/11 changed the way the game was played. Before with hijackings you sat still, didn't make a move, the plane would land somewhere and people would nominally be released. After 9/11 that changed, there's no reason to stay in your seats and be a good victim. The fact of the matter is things like 9/11 were already highly rare events, still are. Terrorist attack on our State soil proper has been very limited. The degree to which TSA goes to ensure "safety" on planes is well too far and not excusable as a source of government force against the people.

Do away with TSA. Go back to what we had. Reasonable upgrades to security, sure. But let's not run around like Chicken Little yelling that the sky is falling. It's not.
 
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..Do away with TSA. Go back to what we had. Reasonable upgrades to security, sure. But let's not run around like Chicken Little yelling that the sky is falling. It's not.

there is nothing wrong with the TSA itself, what people don't like is the new security methods.

however, there is no reason to believe such methods would not be enforced today if the TSA didn't exist.
 
there is nothing wrong with the TSA itself, what people don't like is the new security methods.

however, there is no reason to believe such methods would not be enforced today if the TSA didn't exist.

Indeed not, but having it as a government agency as it is makes it easier to do so. There was room for improvement, but given the probabilities and potential increases in "safety", I think we can draw the line well before wasting all sorts of money on millimeter wave scanners and such.
 
I'm all for improving airport security measures, but abolishing the TSA is just dumb. With the exception of two instances I know of, every modern attack or attempt has involve air travel. Getting rid of security involved in air travel is irresponsible.

Really? I understand you are trying to say airplanes are a common target for terrorists, the problem is that they aren't actually that common and there have clearly been more than two modern attacks which haven't dealt with airplanes.
 
however, there is no reason to believe such methods would not be enforced today if the TSA didn't exist.

If the TSA didn't exist, and it wasn't replaced by any other govt. agency, I don't see how they'd exist for long - since the TSA mandates their use -> take them out of the equation...
 
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