TSA and the eventual regional breakup

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Oleg Volk

I wonder if the depredations of TSA reduce cross-regional cooperation in favor of more local, driving-distance business ties…and if that shift would eventually contribute to entire regions becoming de facto independent.

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12 Responses to TSA and the eventual regional breakup

  1. Jeff says:
    December 8, 2011 at 3:46 am

    Unlikely. It’s more likely to drive the Internet / e-mail / video conference / phone based relationships. Companies tend to despise travel of all types.

  2. millerized says:
    December 8, 2011 at 7:49 am

    Some would like to think so.
    We started out as small, close knit bands of people, living, working and dying together. We relied on each other to maintain our groups, from food sources to security, all for mutual benefit. Consider it early forms of commune (ism, ity) living. We are finding out that world wide supply sources and food chains aren’t going to be sustainable. Some are working towards bringing it all back to the community based lifestyle. Honestly, IMO, it’s the only thing that will work long term.
    Good information about sustainable lifestyles and resilient communities is easy to find. http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/ is a good source to start.

  4. Carl H. says:
    December 8, 2011 at 11:46 am

    The TSA is a boil on the backside of our country and it’ll pass soon. “The dogs may bark loudly, but the caravan doesn’t stop”

  5. Sigivald says:
    December 8, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    As Jeff said, no.

    Before significant commercial air transport, regions were not “de-facto independent” anyway, what with railroads.

    And now we have the Interstate Highway System and the Internet.

    (And contra Millerized, that sounds like a recipe for lots of little dictatorships or oppressive holes.

    Real rights and real liberty are actually kinda unpopular with the masses, and small groups are even more prone to witch-hunts, I find – and history isn’t exactly against me on it. Tribalism, which is what you describe, is far worse than modern society.

    And “sustainable”? Purest bullshit. Hope you have fun, though, living like a late-medieval peasant – with one’s food insecurity and life expectancy. Me, I’ll stay in the modern world and wave as I drive by.

    If you think the global food distribution chain is unstable, wait until you try being a pure locavore when there’s a crop failure. You starve, it turns out, as thousands of years of history show us.)

  6. Dave says:
    December 8, 2011 at 1:43 pm

    I gotta agree with Jeff – but I like the way you think.

  7. StuFisch says:
    December 8, 2011 at 7:41 pm

    I’m happy to take the best of both worlds. Sigivald is partially right, but the modern food chain can be a very fragile thing, and there are a number of events which could cause it to crash. If you only depend on that system, you’ll be in deep if it crashes and you don’t have local sources for your food. Besides, I like the convenience of living in a region with strong agriculture so I can get food locally as well as being able to get cheap oranges in the winter!

    As far as the TSA “goons” go, I am fortunate to be in an area of the country where they are quite pleasant to deal with and much more professional than the contract personnel who were in place pre-9/11. I’ve had the pat-down…the TSA officer was very professional, respectful, and conversational, and the pat-down did not even approach a “groping”. I was quite surprised. I’ve actually seen two TSA officers in separate locations chase after people with wallets, etc. that they had left.

  8. Tony Lekas says:
    December 8, 2011 at 10:41 pm

    NH imports about 85% of it’s food. I do buy local veggies in season and I have the remains of 1/2 a pig and a lamb in my freezer from friends that raised them. We also get most of our eggs from friends.

    The problem is that we have a terrible growing season and little useful farmland. Even the eggs and meat I bought locally are raised to a large extent on imported feed.

    The problem is that here and in many places it is not possible to grow enough food locally to support the current population. If the food trasnport system fails than many of those will have to move or starve. Other areas will have a glut, at least of some types of food.

    See:

    Much of what makes us as wealthy is due to the division of labor. If the size of the market shrinks we will inevitably become poorer. While I do prepare to some extent for potential disasters,I do have some stored food, plenty of guns, and lots of ammo, I prefer putting most of my effort in trying to prevent the disaster from happening.

  9. Tony Lekas says:
    December 8, 2011 at 10:42 pm

    I messed up the link above. It is a link to the book One Second After.

  10. mikee says:
    December 9, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    Taking your idea to a ridiculous extreme, eventually the speciation that occurs with geographic isolation might cause liberals to be unable to breed with any but their own kind, leading to a population of Eloi in places like San Francisco. The Oakland folks might not become Morlocks, but who knows?

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