Dennis Kucinich (Democratic candidate for President) writes:
Even though I don't feel as though I'm getting special treatment or that I'm entitled to special treatment, it makes me wonder how much of a threat I must be since I really do intend to replace the entire government. So when people occasionally recognize me getting the magic metal detector wanding and dutifully submitting to searches of my person, extending my arms and my legs spread-eagle, I explain with a smile, "I'm running against George Bush."
Funny yes, but also maddening. Apparently he gets searched regularly because he buys one-way tickets. This seems to be about as far as the TSA is willing to go in terms of profiling potential terrorists. Does it not occur to anyone that for every Democratic Presidential candidate with a one-way ticket to Des Moines that gets searched, a terrorist with a round-trip ticket could be slipping by? This strikes me as akin to the stories of Al Gore getting searched a while back. Surely no one really thinks these guys are going to hijack and/or blow up anything, do they?
This is something that baffles and frustrates me, because I can't figure out if it's the result of laziness, stupidity, bureaucratic rigidity, or further evidence of the lack of critical thinking being taught in our schools due to over-reliance on standardized testing. How hard can it be to put together a profile that eliminates people who clearly are vested in the system, and obviously have no interest or desire to commit a terrorist act?
Posted by Jason at August 20, 2003 08:51 AM