My letter to the airlines:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to thank you all for the many flights I have enjoyed with your Airline company over the last 40 years. It has been for the most part a pleasure to fly with you all, and the service has been exceptional.

I regret to inform you that I will never be using your services again. Due to the intrusive, and to my mind illegal, searches being performed by the “TSA” on passengers, I will never board another airplane.

It saddens me to know that I will never again be able to whisk from O’Hare or Midway to destinations in the US or abroad, but I will not subject myself to the indignity of an unwarranted, intrusive, and constitutionally illegal search which demands that I either allow an unknown person to view my naked body, or submit to fondling in intimate places by an unknown individual.

(Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.)

I don't think walking into an airport, or wanting to fly down to see my Dad constitutes "probable cause" that I am a "Terrahist".

It also appears from recent news stories, that even showing up at the airport and then attempting to leave without boarding the flight when refusing to submit to these indignities is being met with outrageous threats of tens of thousands of dollars in “fines” and threats of legal actions. This is patently unacceptable.

I will endure the discomfort and tedium of driving to my destinations here forward as a result. No “safety” can be assured by these authoritarian, police-state methods, and as an American Citizen, I refuse to submit to this.

Unfortunately, I cannot wish you well. I hope with all my heart that these TSA atrocities cause you to lose sufficient revenues that you and your fellow airlines team together to address the issue with airports and the government to remove the scanners and cease the intrusive “pat-down” methods.

Until then – fly safely – and please, please lose a lot of money.