Homeland Security and TSA: Fear, Paranoia at a Walmart and Airport Near You

The Department Of Homeland Security (DHS) has just expanded a campaign that you will not be able to avoid if you shop at Walmart, ride the subway in New-York or Washington DC, and go to a big sporting event. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, is lending her voice to this “Big Brother” (Big Sister) assault on US citizens’ peace of mind during what is supposed to be the relaxing time of the holidays season.

The campaign is called:”If You See Something, Say Something” and the nationwide expansion was announced by Napolitano last Wednesday. It is, as the name indicate, an open invitation for people to spy on each others, and to become unpaid informants for the federal government by reporting any “suspicious activities”.

Walmart shoppers, across the country, will be treated, free of charge, by seeing Napolitano’ s fear inducing message in a video as they stand in the check out line. “Big Sister” Napolitano will, for the time being, replace Musac, aisle cleanup announcements and the familiar Walmart smiley face as “entertainment” in the mega stores.

“We are expanding ‘See Something, Say Something’ in a number of venues. It is Walmart, it is Mall of America, it is different sports and sporting arena, it is transit systems. It is a catchy phrase, but it reminds people that our security is a shared responsibility,” Napolitano told NPR in justification of the measure.

In the coming months, according to its own website, the Department Of Homeland Security will continue to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign nationally with “public education” and “outreach tools designed to help America’s businesses, communities and citizens remain vigilant and play an active role in keeping the country safe.”

Do you feel safe yet? Between this campaign and the blatant invasion of privacy which constitutes the body scans and  searches conducted by the TSA at any US airports, it is debatable if American citizens should feel “safe” or extremely worry and threaten by a federal government becoming more intrusive by the day.

There is a quotation from Benjamin Franklin inscribed on a plaque in the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue Of Liberty: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” “Big Sister” Janet Napolitano, and the rest of us, should reflect on Benjamin Franklin’s words before we officially become a full blown Orwellian police state.