At 10:09 9/4/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I wrote:
>>>I am horrified that "free Americans" are not allowed to travel (by air)
>>>without government permission. I am abjectly apalled that almost no one
>>>seems to think there's anything remarkable about the situation, and most
>>>seem grateful for it.
>
>Martha Bartter <MBARTTER@TRUMAN.EDU> replied:
>>Neil, would you elaborate on this?
>
>The "anti-terrorism" measures in force at U.S. airports include the
>requirement that each passenger show a government issued identification
>before being permitted to board the plane. It is forbidden to give away a
>ticket, or to buy a ticket for another person; the name of the pasenger
>must be on the ticket.
>
>If you ask the personnel if they've ever heard of anyone who's ever heard
>of this . . . sorry, I can't quickly come up with a better adjective than
>"fascist" regimen ever interfering with an act of terrorism, they can't
>understand what you're talking about. It's for our own good, after all.
>
>Neil Rest
>
I guess I don't feel as strongly about this as you seem to. Most Americans
(over the age of 16 or so) have a "government issued" id -- either a
driver's license or an official equivalent. No one who has purchased a
plane ticket and shows this id gets taken off the plane in handcuffs.
At least, I haven't heard of such.
To me, "government permission" includes such proscriptions as travel
to Cuba -- there's the gov't in action -- but not the request to see id
to fly any more than id to drive my car. Or do you consider this also
'fascist'?
Martha Bartter
Truman State University
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:39 PDT