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To: tahiti
Key word here, ESSENTIAL liberty.

Given what we know about terrorists and the recent planes blown up in Russia by women with explosives on their bodies, it is reasonable to pat down people to discourage the same thing from happening in this country. Anyone who is so sensitive that they do not wish to be patted down is free to seek some other method of transportation.
67 posted on 12/06/2004 4:07:26 PM PST by Max Combined (Clinton is "the notorious Oval Office onanist")
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To: Max Combined
"...it is reasonable to pat down people to discourage the same thing from happening in this country."

AMENDMENT IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The way most people read this amendment is that as long as the searches and seizures are not "unreasonable," that it is ok for your government to proceed with such action.

Who defines "unreasonable?" The Supreme Court? The majority of citizens through their representatives?

The proper way to read the 4th amendment, from a presumption of liberty, is that the first part of the amendment is a "preamble" or the stated reason for the 4th amendment.

The "guts" of the 4th amendment states if there is a "probable" cause, supported an oath by the person stating that there is probable cause, that a citizen is about to harm other citizens, then a judge will issue a warrant describing exactly what is being looked for and what will be confiscated that is being used to probably harm other citizens.

Assuming that all airline passengers are potential terrorists without an affirmed probable cause and then searching them without a warrant describing what is being looked for, by the TSA, a government agency, is blatantly unconstiutional and violates the intent and stated design of the amendment. Any action to the contrary means that we are not really free.

If the airlines wish to hire their own security personnel to conduct such searches, they can do that without violating the constitution. It is their private property and they can defend and protect it as their hearts desire.

That is how "free" people handle this issue of airline security.

Free people use the tenants and covenants of liberty, private property ownership, and the free market powers of capitalism to solve this problem.

Communists and socialists ask their government to destroy the covenants of liberty, private property ownership, and capitalism for such a dubious goal.

274 posted on 12/07/2004 10:20:38 AM PST by tahiti
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