I arrived inside the terminal at about 6:10 am. My flight was due to leave at 6:30. This gave me a mere 20 minutes to make it through security and then walk the distance to where the plane was probably already being boarded.

As I got in line, I watched the clock tick along, and as I got to the halfway point of the line, it was about 6:20. I was in trouble. Just then, a TSA agent selected me, apparently at random, to have my hands swabbed for explosive dust. She took me out of line, swabbed my hands, put the swabs in that machine of theirs, and after I tested clean, she sent me to the front of the line, effectively saving me 10 minutes of waiting. I went through security, walked briskly to my gate, and barely made it on the plane as the last passenger. Thank you TSA!

Of course if there were no TSA to begin with I could have walked into the airport at 6:20 and have still made my flight, but let us not live as glass-half-empty folk, let us take what joy we may from this rare gem of a moment. And so Ms. TSA Agent, excelsior to you, dear madam, and to your employer, the cause of, and solution to, all life’s problems.

As I describe in more detail here, I’ve been through a bit of a transformation in the past few years, and more especially within the last year, and I’ve come to see that I was wrong on many points. So there to those of you who thought I was stubborn and close-minded!

I’m not entirely convinced that libertarianism has the answer to everything, or that we should abolish the Constitution and go back to the Articles of Confederation, but I have done a complete 180 on a few other issues, including, but not limited to:

• The “war on drugs”
• Illegal immigration
• War

I have significantly modified or am “at risk” of significantly modifying my stance on the following:

• Taxation
• Big business
• Crime and punishment
• Gay marriage

And so to everyone with whom I’ve debated, argued, etc., I apologize, and ask your forgiveness if I ever was rude or too sure of my positions. If you spoke with me today, you might find that if I am not entirely in agreement with your position, I may at least be in possession of a new opinion on the matter.