DO YOU FEEL SAFER?
In just a minute, you're going to be asked to remove all liquids and gels from your carry-on bag. I'm sure you already knew this -- it's been all over the news recently -- but I hope you remembered to pack your expensive makeup in your checked bag, and that you aren't particularly thirsty. Oh, don't worry, you can get a drink on the other side of the checkpoint -- just make sure you finish it before you try to board the plane. Not that they'll check your carry-on again at the gate.
At least they're not bothering you about the gel in your sneakers and bras.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
Yeah, we all know about the foiled British terror plot. The idea was that this group of British citizens had apparently been planning to blow up a series of flights from the UK to the US, perhaps because the fifth anniversary of 9/11 is approaching.
Of course, none of the would-be bombers had made a bomb or bought an airline ticket, and many were lacking passports. And the only reason we know most of this is due to the US government leaking data about the Brits' investigation, after having pressured them to move earlier than they wanted. As a result, several suspects have been released without being charged, and the British counter-terrorrism effort has been severely hampered.
The technology to detect these explosives has been around for quite a while. In fact, the scanners used to protect the White House are properly equipped to let them scan their Starbucks rather than having to gulp it down before entering the building. The Department of Homeland Security, in the five years since 9/11, has never considered it a big enough threat to bother putting it in our airports.
Additionally, the mastermind of the 1992 World Trade Center bombings, Ramzi Yousef, had a very similar plot for blowing up international flights in the mid-1990s. The Clinton administration (in part) managed to defuse that terrorist plot without getting involved in an unrelated quagmire in the middle east or making you taste-test your baby formula to get on a plane.
WHY AIRPLANES? WHY NOW?
Well, quite frankly, it's an election year. The current administration would really like you to be scared right now. Because they think that by scaring you, they can win your votes. That's why you're going to be subjected to a constant stream of annoyances (like throwing away all that wine you bought on your vacation to Napa) and claims that "some people" -- who are never identified, because they don't actually exist -- want to "appease terrorists". The idea is that even if you don't like them, as long as you're scared of the big bad world, you'll vote for them.
A Roman emperor used to be fond of saying "Let them hate, so long as they fear". It pretty much sums up the Republicans in charge of the White House and Congress right now. They don't care that the president is at 35% approval in the polls and that his vice president would consider 25% to be a marked improvement. They figure that as long as they can scare you enough, you'll come running back to them.
What they don't realize is that we aren't going to fall for it again.
WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?
This part is easy. Like I said, it's an election year. Since 2003, the entire federal government has been run by the Republican party. In that time, we've managed to get involved in a land-war-turned-civil-war in Iraq that has been making us less safe as a country; we've done nothing at all about a burgeoning nuclear power in North Korea; and we even saw an entire American city get effectively wiped off the map in New Orleans with barely a finger lifted in Washington to help.
In November, we're going to get a chance to start fixing things. We're going to have a chance to elect people who will hold this administration accountable for their unconscionable actions. We'll have a chance to finally step up and say "That's enough." And "The Constitution doesn't make the President an Emperor." And "I'm sick and tired of being told to be afraid."
And maybe you'll even be allowed to take your water bottle on the plane again.
VOTE DEMOCRAT IN 2006