While half the country is up in arms over the Paul Ryan-Patty Murray budget deal in Congress — with both conservatives and liberals disliking it for their own reasons — I see a twinkling, nay glittering, silver lining.
Security fees for air travelers would jump by 124%, to $5.60 per one-way trip ($11.20 round-trip). Right now the fee is $2.50 for a non-stop flight and $5 for a leg of travel that includes connecting flights. The proposed $5.60 would cover both non-stops and connectings.Why shouldn’t the people who fly pay for their own, cough cough, security?
I pay for my tickets when I go to the theater. Why shouldn’t air travelers do likewise? Airport theater is the most expensive show on earth.
I also find it telling that there’s so much shrieking and proverbial rending of garments in the blabbosphere over this. ‘Grand offense! They’re gouging us! First they take away our pretzels, then they take away our peanuts, then they take away our blankies, now this! What next?! O woe is me!’
I realize this is a radical idea, but maybe, just maybe, the fact that you’re allowing yourselves and your children to be bullied, harassed, robbed, and groped is kinda sorta more important than the fact that you’ll have to pay a few extra bucks to get on a plane. Maybe you should be up in arms over the fact that you’re treated like a criminal rather than the fact that you might have to forgo an overpriced coffee or junk food serving to pay that extra — gasp — five bucks.
But this is America, after all, where nothing is more important than money.
And hey, you can always do what war resisters have been doing for decades — withhold part of your income tax and tell the IRS it’s because you object to the security fees. Ya know, put your money where your mouth is.
