Mark Shead

A bunch of people are upset about the new scanners the TSA is using and upset about the new “enhanced” pat downs.  I can understand.  After reading a bit about both of them, it doesn’t sound like something I’d like to run my family through. However, the suggestions I’m seeing for how to deal with it are ridiculous. Right now a bunch of people are planning on opting out of the x-ray machines the day before Thanksgiving which is going to create a huge travel nightmare.  This might get some media attention, but it is going to take something that is moderately inconvenient and make it very inconvenient for a whole lot of people.

I don’t see how this approach is going to get the TSA to suddenly change their mind about things. It isn’t like the slow down is going to greatly inconvenience them–or at least not the people who actually make decisions for the TSA. Maybe the media attention with prompt changes, but that still seems like a round about way to try to create change.

If you really want to see changes made to the way TSA is treating people, there are three things you need to do.

1. Talk to your congress person

Let your representatives and senators know what you think and what you’d like to see changed. These are the people making the laws.  They are only going to know what you want if you tell them. Complaining to your friends doesn’t count–your congress person doesn’t hear that.

2. Write the airlines

What if you could hire someone with lots of resources to take your concerns and try to get laws and procedures changed? Well you can and it won’t cost you anything. Airlines have a very big interest in getting you to fly. I don’t think most of them care what TSA does as long as people keep flying.  However, if they feel they are losing money, they are going to start pitching a fit, hiring lobbyists, and doing whatever else they can to get the procedures changed.

Write them a polite short letter saying that you were planning on flying somewhere and decided not to because of the new security procedures. Remember, it isn’t their fault, but let them know they are losing customers because of this.

Letters carry disproportional weight in most businesses. I have seen businesses go out of their way to change things based on a single letter. There is something about a physical piece of mail that makes companies take it much more seriously than a phone call and just a few letters can make a big impact.  It might not happen right away, but imagine this: After a poor quarter the CEO asks his team, “why are sales down?” and someone answers, “well, we have all these letters from people saying they don’t want to fly with the new security procedures.”

3. Write the airport

Airports are competing for business too and although most aren’t going to have the resources of an airline, they are still worth contacting. If you don’t want to walk through the x-ray machines, write a letter to airports that use the machine letting them know that you are using a different airport to avoid the machines.

According to Charles Rangel, he has spent $2,000,000 of campaign funds to defend against charges that he violated ethics rules.  Now he says he is out of money and his lawyers have dropped him.  He walked out of the panel hearings saying he doesn’t have a lawyer and isn’t being treated fairly.

The funny thing is, when you ask “what is the worse that can happen” it doesn’t seem that bad for him.  If he is found guilty he probably won’t get booted from the House.  He’ll probably just get a public reprimand.  This may be why he can’t afford a lawyer.  The consequences are low enough that he doesn’t want to spend any of his own money on it.  Now that he has exhausted the money others have given him he feels he is “broke” or at least broke when it comes to spending money to avoid a reprimand.  I have a feeling that if he were defending himself from going to prison, he might be able to find the money or perhaps well that vacation property he has been accused of not paying income taxes on.

It would seem that this would be a pretty easy thing to look at the facts and see if he violated the rules or not. I think he’d save face by simply working with the committee to try to get things over with as quickly as possible instead of drawing things out and spending all of this money on it.  It seems he’d benefit from having less media exposure instead of more.

Here is a crazy ballot initiative being voted on in Washington State:

This measure would require the Seal of the State of Washington to be changed to depict a vignette of a tapeworm dressed in a three piece suit attached to the lower intestine of a taxpayer shown as the central figure. The seal would be required to be encircled with the following words: “Committed to sucking the life blood out of each and every tax payer.” The illustration would be selected from submissions submitted by taxpayers. (source)

How would you vote on that initiative? :)