In the restriction of personal freedom for perceived security rarely do you gain that security you crave. You loose freedom in a iterative and piecemeal way leaving a hungry feeling for the freedoms lost. Reactionary political fascism has never resulted in a substantial increase in security for a population. It does have a substantial effect on behaviors and actors (those who implement security and purposefully break it). When restrictive security practices are put into place to attempt to ban the item (whether it is gun control or nail clippers on airplanes) the resultant security is suspect at best as the effected responsive population is only the law abiding. Search and seizure of items from unsuspecting or the unknowing in the name of security rarely increases security and creates a false sense of security that is worrisome. In false security is found the seeds of future crisis and disaster.
Proactive initiation of security practices based on the traits of the negative-actors and specifically on the way in which they break security or put people at risk is the only solution. Security is not garnered through restrictive totalitarian practices, but through good law enforcement methods. The rules in place currently would not have stopped the current spate of airline hijacking attempts, nor will they stop the next round. What stops hijackings is good police work and watching those who have less than the best interests of others in mind. In freedom to act and respond is also found the successes of stopping disaster before the fire truck has to be called. The restrictive totalitarian practices of TSA are actually impediments to success and based on a broken model of reactionary policing. The false sense of security created by TSA lulls the people into a torpid feeling of safety so warning signs are ignored at the peril of all. Vigilance and responsibility for the actions of your neighbor are the grease for the rails of success and safety. Civics and social awareness are the shields we really need.
The fact is you can’t stop terrorism by regulating people or creating laws. Those who bend to the restrictions or behavior restrictions were not the ones you should worry about. Those who ignore and move around, over, under, or through the barriers of regulation put in place are adaptive, intelligent, and without compunction to action. All of the laws and methods for stopping terrorism are well known, have existed for millennia, and are quite functional. The TSA and foreign organizations are quite blatantly using the squall of fear as a method to invade the most private areas of our lives and impose restrictions without consequence or recompense. The methods of acting out terrorist acts far outstrip the capabilities of all law enforcement organizations. The saving grace in this generation of terrorists is the highly motivated political agenda and targeted attack vectors. Do not think these are dull or dimwitted agents of evil and despair. They are highly motivated, highly educated, incredibly sophisticated, technologically superior opponents.
A terrorist organization needs the will of the people or it’s supporters to maintain troops and move ahead. If you take care of the people, make the onerous and inhumane treatment of others evaporate, and deal fairly if strictly with the supporting populations you won’t have terrorism. Similarly a velvet glove can contain an iron fist and when somebody supports terrorism you whack them with steel until they can wage war no longer. One method is pro-active and supportable by most. The latter method is why people listen to the first method. Once the steel fist of vengeance has swung the arc of retribution the justice and love of society will be forgotten in the brutality of war. The Israeli’s used to balance on the knife edge of political upheaval and social justice then recently they sliced themselves to the bone by forgetting their moral stand.
Solving terrorism will never be accomplished when the airline passenger or innocent civilian is the one at the toe of the booted government thug. When the government treats the civilian population as if they were the terrorists then the terrorists have succeeded. With each successive legislative solution for problems that can’t be solved by legislation the terrorists have not needed to act. The government has slid into the position of thug quite nicely. Solving terrorism is not easy and it is not done with the flourish of the legislative pen. Solving terrorism isn’t something that fits into a sound bite on the evening news, it isn’t something that can happen between election cycles, and likely will never be totally solved in a world where death at the hands of your fellow human is more common with the passing of each day. Terrorism is solved by reigning in ineffectual policies of military force projection to foreign lands, restriction and denouement of hostile treaty practices, restriction on the puppeteering of arrogant foreign regimes, and effective social justice with respects to foreign and domestic policies.