By: Daniel Nardini

As if it is not bad enough for the Transportation Administration (Agency? whatever!), or TSA, to be virtually strip-searching people going on airplanes, now it is being given a green light to be able to virtually strip-search people in bus stations, train stations, and even in their own cars! The U.S. government has allowed the TSA to be able to conduct random searches for drugs, undocumented, and terrorists without warrant, without probable cause, and without hard information that a terrorist attack is imminent.

The excuse they give is, “we might catch the bad guy or the terrorist.” That is NOT an acceptable excuse. Apparently the TSA and U.S. President Barack Obama have not heard about a little thing called the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Amendment clearly states, “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 of affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons and things to be seized.”

Random searches, forced threats of people having to show their identification “or else,” and taking people away who do not comply with this is tantamount to not only violation of the U.S. Constitution but is setting a precedent for establishing a totalitarian system of government. This is unacceptable and must be legally fought wherever possible. If we let any part of the U.S. government be able to do whatever it wants without constitutional oversight then we will be no better than countries like North Korea or China. The American Civil Liberties Union has taken note that this is unacceptable and I hope they will take action soon. I hope there will be legal challenges to this type of thought police non-sense in the very, very near future for the protection of all our civil liberties.