Conservatives bear a lot of blame for their current predicament. This comprehensive assault on individual freedom didn’t occur in a vacuum; it occurred because conservatives were successful in frightening Americans into choosing security over liberty every time the choice was before them, and because America’s elected officials take being blamed for a terrorist attack more seriously than their oath to protect the Constitution. While the scanners have been in development for years, their deployment was rapidly accelerated in the aftermath of last year’s attempted underwear bombing, as the TSA became even more concerned about the threat of nonmetallic objects. Conservatives must now face the Frankenstein they created by breathlessly hyping the threat of terrorism for political gain: A recent CBS poll found that 81 percent of Americans support the new machines.
Why We Are Angry at the TSA | The American Prospect. Those of us who are angry need to reckon with the fact that what the TSA does is enormously popular. Americans have readily and easily given up actual freedoms for a mere feeling of greater security, and show no real signs of regretting that choice. The protestors who fill my Twitter and RSS feeds are (alas) anomalous.