The latest public upset over recent TSA security implementations underscores the inherent tension between the need of the individual for freedom and the state for absolute control.
At the founding of the United States, our security was at an all time low with Britain, the world’s superpower of the time, still desiring to hold the colonies. Yet in the face of this threat the founding fathers chose to protect personal rights and freedoms in the Constitution. Their belief in the individual bore fruit when our security was again threatened and protected in the War of 1812.
The current stance of the TSA—pushing security at the cost of personal freedom—is un-American, no matter how it is masked. The fact is, security can never be assured. So the loss of personal freedom is a high price paid for a security service that has never in history been attainable.
The threat to the spiritual path in America is when governments, created to defend personal liberty, are acceded the power to destroy that liberty. Sooner or later all personal beliefs, decisions and actions are weighed, not on the basis of their legality, but on whether they are a threat to the state or not.
Spiritual revolutionaries and people who simply think for themselves have always been, are and will always be a threat to bureaucratic or state control.
The sheep won’t mind the body scanners, pat downs and being treated politely like criminals, only the awakened shepherds will mind.