The security of the citizens of a country is far too important to leave in the hands of the government. The politicians that run the United States government are far too concerned with the 'quick fix' that will boost their poll ratings, and too ignorant on the subject matter to realize that a 'quick fix' is neither. While the quote is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, it is more likely authored by Richard Jackson, regardless of this fact, it still rings true: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Unfortunately, this seems to be the only thing the government is good at doing. After the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon of September 11, 2001 there was immediate cry for a centralized database that would harbor all information on all individuals. A magical solution that by depriving citizens of their privacy would somehow allow the government to catch all the bad guys. Some of this has come into effect with the new airline security protocols. Billions of dollars have been spent to make airlines 'safe' by screening passengers through databases designed to identify terrorists. The fact is that no airline in the US will be successfully hijacked in at least the next 10 years. Not because of these expensive new security measures, but because the people on board won't allow it. If the passengers on the plane believe they will die, then they have nothing to lose in trying to stop the hijackers. Until we reach a generation where September 11 is only an event in the history book, planes are safe. But politicians need to make the public feel better, and do so by pushing for these fancy security systems. Meanwhile it is still possible to walk across a shallow river, crawl through a hole in a fence and enter the US via the Mexican border. Illegal Mexican immigrants know this, and I'm fairly certain that there are plenty of terrorists who know this as well. The only truly effective way to stop them is an increase in well trained security personnel, and not in elaborate computer systems that are easy to bypass, and needlessly endanger our privacy.

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