Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Jason Chaffetz won't listen to me

If you live in his district, Jason Chaffetz will listen to you. He's not busy listening to us other folks, though. This is what I'd like to say to him anyway:

Congressman Chaffetz,
I know you share my concern with the current policies of the TSA in airport security. I appreciate your courage to stand against the imaging devices last year, and I thank you for taking a current and vocal stand against policies that are unconstitutional, unethical, misguided, and wrong.

Current policies are intrusive of personal privacy and rights. Without probable cause, US citizens should not be assumed guilty and essentially strip searched.
I oppose the imaging devices, and I oppose the invasive extent of the pat-downs.
In the America today, trusted and loved first-grade teachers cannot legally return a 7-year old's hug; yet complete strangers touch our children and grandparents in ways that are inappropriate if we refuse a body scan at the airport.
For whatever reasons that people are uncomfortable, and the reasons vary, there is a strong opposition.
There are many, including myself, that consider this a violation of 4th amendment rights.

Current TSA policy violates the right of the people to be secure in their persons against unreasonable searches without probable cause.

The purchase of an airline ticket is not probable cause to suspect the people of criminal or terrorist activity.
A single CBS poll is simply not sufficient justification to assume that I am in the minority in this opinion.

I don't live in your district; I live in Steny Hoyer's district. I know, pretty different in every possible way, except that you're both congressmen.

When you arrived in this town with your cot, you got my attention. While I can't say that you and I have the same views on everything, you've been doing good things ever since. I'm cheering for your intact ideals every month you keep using that cot, which after two years, must be getting uncomfortable. Incidentally, if you run for Orrin Hatch's Senate seat in 2012, count on my donation for sure, and I might consider moving to Utah just to vote for you.

While I have called on Congressman Hoyer to address the TSA policy issue, I encourage you to continue to fight for myself and Americans like me.
I call upon you, as one of the good guys in congress, to check the overreaching power of the TSA.

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