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Reply #1: This oversimplifies the issue. Not left-right, it's cross-cutting that divides several ways. [View All]

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leveymg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-25-10 05:11 AM
Response to Original message
1. This oversimplifies the issue. Not left-right, it's cross-cutting that divides several ways.
Edited on Thu Nov-25-10 05:15 AM by leveymg
The issue stacks up like a couple opposing pie plates. The pie plate that is against the scanners and pat downs is made up as follows:

* Right-libertarians, like the "Don't touch my Junk" guy, who resent the intrusion of government into their private flying experience;
* Anarcho-leftists who see this as further evidence of a creeping fascist police state taking over their everyday lives;
* Religious-Rightwingers, the "porno scanner" opponents, who view naked body images and touching outside marriage as sin;
* Naturalists and Green health worriers who oppose the scanners as a source of deadly radiation;
* A tiny, but politically significant, number of GOP partisans and Obama-haters who welcome a terrorist attack as a political opportunity.

On the other side, the pie is made up of the following segments who support the TSA's enhanced security measures:

* Federal air safety and counter-terrorism officers who decided these approaches are necessary to keep PETN bombs off airplanes;
* Uneasy travelers who view air travel as a calculated risk willing to accept these steps to lessen the odds of death or serious injury;
* Democrats and others who understand that if TSA backs down and a plane is blown up, the Obama Administration will be blamed and vilified, and much more extreme measures will be taken.

Where do you fit into this? The answer is, I reckon, more likely a reflection of one's psychological makeup than the conventional left-right political divide might predict.




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