Senator Rand Paul after being detained by the TSA.

Senator Rand Paul, from my home state of Kentucky, is a growing conservative leader and a libertarian chip off the old block of his father, Ron Paul.  In addition, both Pauls are doctors, Senators, and generally all around well-behaved gentlemen.  Except when their civil liberties are infringed upon by the government or an agency thereof; that tends to get the Paul dander up.  When Senator Rand Paul was traveling through Nashville’s airport on his way back to Washington, the Congressman found himself detained by the TSA after refusing to submit to a pat-down.

Rand Paul, upon setting off the scanner with his knee (which has no metal pins or plates in it), actually hitched up his pants leg, showed the TSA his knee, then asked to be put through the scanning process again.  The TSA said he had to submit to a pat-down.  When he refused, they detained him, violating both his Constitutional rights as an American and his Constitutional rights as a member of Congress.  According to Act 1 Section 6 of the Constitution of the United States of America, members of Congress have certain privileges when it comes to traveling.  To whit, “They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.”

“The police state in this country is growing out of control.  One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities.  The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe,” said Texas Republican Senator Ron Paul, a Republican presidential candidate.

For the TSA’s part, they said they didn’t actually detain him, they simply moved him to a cubicle and refused to let him leave, either to board his plane or just leave the airport.  Which, if I’m not crazy, sounds like they DETAINED HIM illegally.

Tags: Rand Paul, Ron Paul, TSA, Nashville, Transportation Security Administration, airport security, Rand Paul detained by TSA, Rand Paul detained by airport security, scanner error, constitution, traveling, Kentucky, Senate, US Senate, Senator detained by TSA

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