Why are we so complacent about the TSA?

The TSA doesn't make us safe. The TSA makes a lot of us simply feel safe. So my question to you is "How much are you willing to pay for that feeling of safety?" Are you willing to pay 6.8 billion dollars?

I'm not willing to pay the 6.8 billion dollars they're getting.

Now, you might be one of those people who thinks that the TSA is keeping us safe. That may be a debatable point. Now, I know that the TSA is not mostly responsible for preventing us from taking a bottle of water onto the plane, or making us put our mini tube of toothpaste into a plastic baggie. I know that they also put "security officers" onto trains and subway stations. I just don't think that this is money well spent. 6.8 billion dollars! For the illusion of safety?

Read this article.

I've had plenty of personal experience with the TSA at airports and I have never been pleased with their work. At their very best their presence delays me by a minute.

The only way that the Aviation division of the TSA is going to catch a terrorist is to literally arrest anyone attempting to take a container of liquid larger than 3oz. Any leniency, any mistake can lead to a disaster. We've fixed a leaky bucket by putting it over another leaky bucket. Only the second leaky bucket costs an average of 3.8 billion dollars a year (since 2001).

I'm sick of our complacency about this. Just because the average American never goes anywhere near an airport doesn't mean we should put up with the inanity of the TSA's aviation division. And we definitely shouldn't put up with giving them another 6.8 billion dollars.

But seriously. Read that article.