Yes, but I was more irritated that the woman who worked at the airport (and wanted me to stop taking pictures of my son going thru the security checkpoint) was hollering at me in SPANISH than I was about being treated as if I might be a terrorist. Frankly, Jewelry stores all treat us as if we might steal some jewelry (why else keep it in glass cases and watch us like hawks when we try it on?) Actually, it's the nature of a free country. If we were not so free most of us would probably just not be allowed to fly (or buy expensive jewelry). The rest of your post re: the government just trying to protect itself is something I don't even have an answer for, except to say, no, I don't agree with that, but maybe you have some experience that tells you otherwise. I am not quite so cynical as you, I guess. I feel extremely free (ok, they do take alot of my money). Maybe it's just a function of what you're doing. I don't know. susie
susie,
That woman screaming at you for taking pictures was another part of the 'potential terrorist' treatment. There are signs in the Social(ist)(in)Security buildings forbidding you from taking pictures. Suddenly, taking pictures is a terrorist activity.
Do you lock your door at home? Have a security system? I don't have a problem with private entities exercising caution in protecting their property but they do so at their expense and you are not required to interact with them. You don't have to buy jewelry or buy it where you are treated in a manner that you do don't like. When you carry a briefcase or purse into the jewelry store, does anyone rifle through your bag? You aren't strip searched or felt up before being allowed to enter the store, are you?
I have no such option with government. They can compel me to do business with them. At the airport, they ignore the 4th Amendment protections against search and seizure, they ignore the requirement for probable cause.
You 'feel free', but are you?
Can you rent a room in your home to whom you choose? Can you deny that room to anyone? Who owns your propterty? You, who paid for it or a bureaucrat at the EPA? Can you develop your land without getting an EPA approval that no endangered flea lives there? If he controls your use of the land, is it really your land? Is your home safe from a government taking? Can you flush your toilet with more than 1.6 gallons of water? Are you free to remit the money extracts from you at your convenience or is it taken before you ever see it? Are you forced to fund things that violate your religious or moral beliefs? Can you hire whom you choose or must you meet quotas? Is the basic right to self defense encumbered by stupid regulations that do nothing to hinder criminals?
I could go on and on but you get the point. We have accepted so many intrusions into our lives that we no longer react when another one happens.
I am quite free too but only because I purposefully ignore and violate certain rules and laws, but I do so knowing that there may be a price to pay for it some day. I harm no one and take nothing that is not rightfully mine, but would be considered a criminal because I don't conform. I may someday be labeled a terrorist because when the government says jump, I don't ask how high. I love my country, but I do not trust the government.
Just read the paper on any given day. I'm not talking about the baseless charges of the whacked out left. I am talking about the daily reports of government officials, at every level, in every capacity, all over the country, who are indicted, convicted, and jailed for criminal behavior. Offenses range from the mundane to the extraordinary, but many involve violating the rights of individuals in one way or another.
From the routine criminal violations, move on to those who inhabit the halls of government who have never held a real job. Many of these act as though they were ordained by divine right to be our leaders. Such thinking is dangerous to liberty. Our Founders knew that and expected us to not have a huge government to eat out our substance but they did know the nature of man and men with power. They never expected that we would allow a few to hold power throughout their lifetimes. If there was a flaw, it was in not imposing term limits on all offices.
Do you beleive that the Congress or the courts or the President have the legitimate authority to do many of the things that they do? How much of what they do is blatantly unconstitutional but done anyway? Do they do it benefit you or to buy votes with monies from the public treasury? There are some good people in government, or at least they were intent on doing the right thing when they entered government. Sadly, it doesn't take long for even the best of them to become part of the problem. They feather their own nests and protect their jobs with our money and by the laws that they promulgate. Then they order defenses set up to defend themselves against attack.
Take some time and review in your mind's eye where government security measures are taking place. You hear about Homeland Security, but what and who do they really protect? You and me? Maybe by coincidence. Are they at your office building running scanners looking for bombs? Or are they just at the Federal buildings? Does your local government protect the department store and mall or just their facilities?
In more than one ruling, the Supreme Court has affirmed that the police do not have a duty to protect you, only society in general. I am now wondering if that applies to the officers who are on duty at the government offices? Are they required to protect government officials even though police in general are not required to protect us. Hmmm.