Battle on the ground

Life involves risk; you can’t escape it. As the federal government exerts increasing control over our lives, some people are becoming fed up.

Growing numbers of airline passengers are rising up against heightened security measures the Transportation Security Administration has taken at our nation’s airports, including those in the Rio Grande Valley.

Those measures include full-body scans that are said to provide essentially accurate images of people’s bodies under their clothes. People can opt out of the "X-ray vision" scans, but they then will be subjected to "enhanced" pat-downs. The pat-downs, officials say, go beyond the simple frisking we’ve seen on television cops shows. They are full-body feel-downs, with heavy pressure, over the entire body — including the genital area.

Some people who will fly on Wednesday plan to protest. They say people should refuse the electronic scans. That refusal will lead to the enhanced pat-downs that can last several minutes (standard frisking usually takes about 30 seconds). This could cause delays and overburden the airports.

Certainly, many people believe these security measures are necessary reactions to the growing threat of terrorism. Some will say that flying is a choice, and those who don’t like the measures can simply take other forms of transportation. Driving or taking the bus takes so long and is inconvenient — and is so much more dangerous — that it’s hard to consider the options comparable, however.

People have the right to voice their opinions on everything our government does, and these kinds of protests are valid. We hope officials have the sense to take the complaints into consideration and use them to formulate more rational policy.

After all, even with its increasingly intrusive methods the TSA can’t provide complete protection. These protests can help us all decide how much freedom we are willing to give up in the name of safety, or how much risk we are willing to accept in the name of freedom.

We won’t know until Wednesday just how many people will be protesting at Valley airports. Those who plan to fly on that day would do well to get to the airport even earlier, and be ready for delays and confusion.

Getting to Grandma’s house might be a bit more harrowing this year, but we hope that in the end, all trips prove to be safe ones.