1.) TSA is an experiment by the central state to determine the tolerance of Americans to tyranny - how much intrusion will we endure and how many of our civil rights are we willing to forfeit under the guise of safety or their demands...??? Outcry and indignation is producing virtually nothing as the grievances continue and the encroachments become more bold. The entreaties of U.S. congressmen and senators groped, delayed, and humiliated are routinely ignored now demonstrating the full force of the federal government to control absolutely everyone. When those that are actually part of the power structure can be manipulated like this by these "blue shirts" there is real trouble just over the horizon. TSA is spreading to more and more of the public space and have shown up at bus and train terminals, highway check points, and have threatened to invade high school proms. TSA is the framework for the "civilian national security force" that our current president called for in July of 2008 and it's in the test phase now. Individuals don't stand a chance to change this and I don't know how large of a contingent would be required to do so, if at all. It's impossible to predict if TSA is designed as a central state defense from civil unrest due to a black swan event or if they're here as police state enforcers when the time is right. Obviously, the current TSA employment compliment is not up to the needs of the aforementioned totalitarian/security state requirements but with the correct leadership from elsewhere and additional training many of them could be utilized as offense/defense pawns. For now however, TSA will continue to encroach on our rights, and our dignity; they'll be used to ascertain just how much the folks will put up with before there is serious pushback. But, as long as we want to keep our lives unthreatened by authoritarianism, maintain our lifestyles, and not lose our property, we'll put up with a lot!
2.) TSA is a jobs program. These are fairly good jobs in todays highly competitive market and they have excellent benefits. The government needs more worker bee's and TSA is the perfect place to hire people that probably have few skills needed in todays work environment. These employees with probably do just about anything that is asked of them with little or no thought of what they are doing to others, how their positions trample individual rights, and how truly ineffective they really are. Screeners will do what they are told and they will not buck the system, pure & simple. There will be true believers, "we're protecting the public from harm"; there are social misfits looking for that little bit of authority they could never exert otherwise; deviants offered an unending supply of gratification, and zealots waiting for their chance to be part of "the great change". Regardless of the categories mentioned, TSA personnel are afforded a government job with government benefits and it's doubtful that they will bite the hand that feeds them if push comes to shove.