Robin SmithIt's easier to govern and campaign when your policies are based not on principles, but on appeasing groups of people. In doing so, there's no need for consistency.
Need proof?
Last week, President Barack Obama signed a compromise bill into law that re-establishes the National Security Administration's activity in collecting the phone records of all citizens under the expanded Patriot Act. According to much of the dialogue around this "meta-data" collection, without such a program America would be weaker in its ability to protect itself against terrorism.
Yet America's borders are almost completely open and porous to any and all who wish to enter into the country, friend and foe alike.
If not for a decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, an executive order issued by Obama would unilaterally grant "legal status" to up to 4.3 million individuals present in America illegally.
In the lawsuit Texas v. USA, 25 states, including Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, have banded together to halt the executive amnesty desired by the White House and Democratic Party. Citing the financial burden on state governments for education, health care and other services for unemployed illegal immigrants seeking amnesty, more than half the states in the suit have been successful in stopping what is essentially an open border. Illegal immigrants wanting our benefits without reciprocating their allegiance will find it harder to get a free pass.
Members of Congress have seemingly welcomed these 26 states to take up their fight. The 4.3 million illegal immigrants would not only compete for jobs but also become eligible for Social Security, Medicare, disability programs and unemployment benefits, adding to the strain on the already debt-ridden American budget.
Then, while the NSA debate and immigration issues were coming to a head, a report was made public that our nation's airports are frighteningly insecure, despite omnipresent passenger screening by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Internal testing by the Homeland Security Administration was done at 70 airport sites. Fake passengers, armed with contraband like mock explosives or weapons, tried to board airplanes without TSA detection. The TSA failed 67 of the 70 tests. That's a failure rate of 95.7 percent.
This high level of ineptitude, coming from a program that was given $7.39 billion solely to ensure safety during travel, is beyond disgraceful. Yet following exposure of the staggering incompetence of the TSA, White House spokesman Josh Earnest declared, "The president does continue to have confidence that the officers of the TSA do very important work that continues to protect the American people."
Okay, law-abiding American citizens, rest assured. We have a functional meta-data collection system that catalogues every single phone call to screen for terrorists, yet our borders are wide-open, welcoming any and all with airport security that serves more as a speed bump than threat detection.
Homeland Security Administration Secretary Jeh Johnson, speaking on the TSA failure, embarrassingly responded that, "The numbers in these reports never look good out of context, but they are a critical element in the continual evolution of our aviation security."
Here's some context: It's called failure. The sovereignty of the United States and the protection of citizens seem to be only talking points these days. This stinging inconsistency of our government to function on behalf of its citizens is not merely shameful, but potentially disastrous.
The true context of all of this is clear. That which one honors and respects, one defends.
Robin Smith, a former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, is owner of Rivers Edge Alliance.