This one has to be heard to be believed. A Ron Paul campaign worker was carrying about $4,700 in donations in a metal box onto an airplane. The TSA security guys asked him why he had all that money. The RP guy asked if he was required to answer the question.
This seems perfectly reasonable to me. The police may be entitled to ask my name and address, they can ask for my ticket and learn where I am going and from whence I came, but who I work for and why I have money is my own business.
This guy had an mp3 player or smartphone with him, and he turned on the voice recorder. You can hear the audio here:
http://video1.washingtontimes.com/video/tsabierfeldt.mp3
This was chilling. "Answer our questions or we will take you to the police station." "We won't tell you if you are required to answer." "If you don't have anything to hide you should answer." Hello, civil liberties violation.
It is my understanding that if the cops pull you over and start asking personal questions, that you don't have to answer. Simply exercising your constitutional rights does not provide probable cause to detain you in and of itself. How much power does TSA actually have?
It's pretty clear these guys were arrogant, poorly trained, and not very bright. Of course having union member government employees was supposed to protect us from this kind of nonsense. Right.
OK, so you legal eagles out there - are we required to give TSA answers to personal questions? Can we be legally detained or arrested for simply carrying around 5 grand and then refusing to provide answers about it? Can they legally prevent us from getting on a plane if we don't answer personal questions?
Hairy
Oh yeah, and cudos to the Ron Paul supporter for sticking up for his rights. I have had some harsh things to say about RP and is supporters for some of their out there positions, but this guy was absolutely right on. It took a lot of guts and patience to do this.
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