You have an interesting point of view. I beg to differ.

As a person who is required to travel for business, I can't be competitive if I don't use the airlines. Corporate jets are too expensive. Greyhound and Amtrak are too slow. Obviously, I drive whenever it's possible, but I can't drive to Hawaii.

Driving, by the way, is also a privilidge. Would it be constitutional if the government made your drivers license conditional on not voting and/or agreeing not to criticize the government? It amounts to the same thing.

The irony is that the screeners (yes, the underpaid, uneducated and non-Americans included) did their jobs on 9/11. The only things that were insufficient were the list of proscribed items and the airlines procedures on handling hijackings. There was no good reason to Federalize screening, and doing so is a violation of my 4th ammendment liberties.