Airplane travelers have been expressing complaints at the Transportation Security Administration's new, more aggressive full-body searches. Travelers complain of inappropriate contact and comments, and a feeling of powerlessness and humiliation at the new search policy. These complaints are coming in on top of the public's privacy concerns relating to the full-body scanners used at many major airports.
This issue shows the possible difficulties with using direct government as a tool to handle a situation. The TSA is a direct department of the federal government, so its policies are an extension of the executive branch. Direct government is the most effective tool to use when dealing with security issues, but the problem is that the public do not get to have any input in the policies or choose whether or not to follow them. In the case of airport security, direct government is the best option so passengers will just have to learn to adapt to the new standards.
- Stephanie Doctrow
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/business/19security.html?ref=us
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Although we do not directly choose the policies of TSA, we elected our President to decide which members of the agency are fit to propose certain policies regarding airport security. This form of direct government is essential to determining the best option to keep our citizens safe.
ReplyDelete-Ben Clemence
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ReplyDeleteAlso, this relates to the legitimacy discussion we had in class in that this type of government could be rejected as illegitimate. The TSA is acting as a legislative shadow in this instance, working behind the scenes but still having an influence on public policy. However, they may not be representing the broader interest since the public does not get to have any input. Although this type of government may be effective for now, it's not necessarily very equitable.
ReplyDelete-Kelly Neary