New York Times columnist Roger Cohen has an excellent column pointing out the real issue with TSA, naked pictures, and groping. In a column aptly titled, “The Real Threat to America,” Cohen writes:

I don’t doubt the patriotism of the Americans involved in keeping the country safe, nor do I discount the threat, but I am sure of this: The unfettered growth of the Department of Homeland Security and the T.S.A. represent a greater long-term threat to the prosperity, character and wellbeing of the United States than a few madmen in the valleys of Waziristan or the voids of Yemen.

America is a nation of openness, boldness and risk-taking. Close this nation, cow it, constrict it and you unravel its magic.

The whole column is worth reading.

I was reminded of something that Ronald Reagan, in office for only 10 months, said in a 1981 Thanksgiving Day interview with Barbara Walters. Remember that this happened when the Cold War had gotten less frigid. Reagan said that the main threat to Americans’ freedom was not the Soviet Union but our own governments.

HT to Bill Anderson.