Headlines of three-hour waits and hundreds of missed flights have held our national attention for weeks and have prompted action…FINALLY! Transportation Security Administration head of Security Operations Kelly Hoggard has been removed from his post as controversy swirls over delays caused by TSA protocols at major airports.
I was flabbergasted to hear a news story on CNN that promoted the need for Federal control of airport security rather than the privatization efforts that are being explored by airports. The reporter apparently dug to find the one traveler who wasn’t upset about missing a flight due to TSA delays because of safety. Couching the conversation in light of the recent EgyptAir crash in the Mediterranean Sea helped push the lack of security narrative requiring a continuation of government intervention.
Personally, I applaud efforts by airports across the country to find other private security options to replace or supplement the TSA. Especially since we know that Hoggard received $90,000 in bonuses over the last 13 months while whistleblowers have faced threats and reassignment.
Rewarding mediocrity and failure while punishing success is definitely a formula for the abject disaster the TSA has been for air travelers across the nation. The realm of government ineptitude is enhanced by the lack of incentive that comes from monopolizing the market.
Imagine, if you will, that a number of other security companies are willing to compete for the money tied up in airport security. Since we’re using our adult imaginations, in a productive manner, let us also see this competition occurring in an unencumbered free market that is absent the government manipulation that has created this absurd monopoly on security that is wrecking air travel for thousands.
Accountability is the first word that comes to mind. I don’t see private companies paying bonuses to employees who are failing to do their jobs. I also don’t see owners, driven by a profit motive, silencing whistleblowers who will help them make more money by exposing inefficient procedures that will cost them work opportunities.
Now, the counterpoint finding rounds in the media focuses on the private sector failure of 9/11. However, I must apply the “you get what you pay for” cliché to that sentiment. How much more are we spending today for a 95% fail rate? If that money were being spent in a true free market, our airports would be secure.
The stark contrast between libertarians and the duopoly (Republicans and Democrats) is remarkably evident on this issue. The duopoly will continue indiscriminately pouring funds into this failure of a program because the airports and airlines can’t “afford” to pay for it themselves. Just another example of ill-spent corporate welfare and the lack of responsibility that has come with it.
If elected, I will advocate and work to get airport security back into the private sector on both ends of the process. The government paying itself to secure our airports is both a conflict of interest and recipe for disaster.
Airports and airlines should be paying private companies to provide security. Either way we are paying for it, either in taxation or higher ticket costs.
Clear Difference, Clear Direction, Clear Decision…Vote Mark West 2016
