As Brian Doherty noted below, a
President Rand Paul in 2016 is not the most implausible of ideas.
The next question is of course, do we have to wait four more years
to nix this whole Transportation Security Agency (TSA)
thing? Sen. Rand Paul had his own
run-in with the TSA in January, but even before that the
curly-mopped Kentuckian was not wild
about the agency. He recently urged supporters to
sign the Campaign for Liberty’s petition to get rid of the TSA.
Because, as a member of that campaign so beautifully put it, “the
government literally has its hands down our pants.”

It sometimes seems like Drudge and cable news have a TSA horror
story every few days (grandmothers,

the disabled,
children, none will go unmolested. Also, your belt
might explode.) yet people still support the security measures
to a
distressing degree. But there are always a few choice Americans
who are fighting back in the best, most basic way they know
how.

Take this naked guy from Oregon. Some misguided politics
possibly implied, since the dude has also stripped naked to
bikeride-protest against oil dependence, (or maybe he just likes
getting naked?), but John E. Brennan declared in mid-April that he
was “nude, but not lewd” when he took off his clothes at the
security screening area of Portland International Airport. And he’s
sticking with that argument in court. “The most effective way to
tell them I’m not carrying a bomb is take off my clothes,” said
Brennan who had previously complained about the TSA’s treatment
through his twitter account. And so, Brennan has just decided not
to plead out on his charges of disorderly conduct and indecent
exposure, the better to fight for
Americans’ freedom to go ungroped.

Notes the Oregonian:

John E. Brennan had the option Wednesday morning of entering
Multnomah County Circuit Court’s community court program, which
would allow his misdemeanor to be treated like a citation. He would
be required to plead guilty. He also likely would be ordered to do
community service and write an apology letter. But Brennan and his
attorney, Michael E. Rose, told a judge that they wanted to go to
trial.

“His (letter of) apology would be more of an explanation and so
community court is simply not appropriate for him because he has
said ‘I didn’t do anything wrong,'” Rose said, after the brief
hearing.

Rose said one of two things will happen next: The district
attorney’s office will dismiss the charge or Brennan will go to
trial, as early as mid-June.

“Community court is the easy way out,” Rose said.

Brennan is charged with “indecent exposure,” a Portland city
ordinance that says it’s unlawful for “any person to expose his or
her genitalia while in a public place or place visible from a
public place, if the public place is open and available to persons
of the opposite sex.” State law allows nudity — as long as it
isn’t done to sexually arouse oneself or others.

Only worrying about the
emotional scars of the opposite sex from the nude person? That’s
pretty heterosexist, Portland law. And also stupidly broad because
nudity is victimless. State law, if you’re going to have a law
about nudity at all, does seem much more sensible. Under
state law it seems clear that a naked protest is not the same as a
guy in a park trying to terrify your children or elderly
relatives. 

Though Paul has remained clothed while protesting the TSA, the
Sen. may be more radical even than Brennan,
who doesn’t want to abolish the agency:

“(TSA screeners) have a delicate job. They have to balance
safety in the skies, which I completely support, and our personal
liberties; and right now, I think as the pendulum is swinging, it’s
swinging toward taking away our personal liberties and our
constitutional rights,” Brennan said.

On Monday, Brennan got through the security checkpoint at
Sacramento International without any problems. He opted out of the
full body scanner, but got through the process with his clothes
on.

Brennan said he’s done disrobing in airports; he doesn’t want to
end up on the no-fly list. He’s now encouraging other passengers to
know their rights.

“It’s not my job to solve the problem; there are experts for
that,” Brennan said. “My job is to protect my rights and the rights
of other people flying.”

He’s not exactly a libertarian patriot, he may like getting
naked a little too much for the squeamish, but his generally
cheerful stubornness and refusal to be cowed into saying he did
something wrong is commendable, and that’s something in the
direction of liberty.

Reason on the
TSA and on
Rand Paul