As millions of Americans fly all over the country to be with their families and loved ones this holiday weekend, the Transportation Security Administration will perform thousands of intrusive body scans and aggressive pat-downs as part of a new enhanced security screening process.

These new security procedures threaten our personal liberty and we must not stand for it.

We all understand the need for extra vigilance.

As we witnessed with the Sept. 11 attacks, radical terrorists will seek any opportunity they can to weaken our nation and destroy our way of life.

The threats to our country are innumerable, and we cannot ignore the state of the world in which we live.

The typical federal government response to these threats is to react without thinking through the costly consequences to our freedoms.

While travel does not come without risks, those risks are not going to be eliminated by aggressively patting down an elderly man or a 9-year-old child.

So why doesn't the government target the travelers that do pose a threat because of their suspicious behavior and activities (such as paying cash for a ticket)?

For example, Israel has long used a security process where intelligence and human interaction is utilized before security agents take more intrusive steps.

Allowing the federal government unprecedented power to trample on our personal rights and privacy, all in the name of security, goes against every principle of freedom our nation was founded upon.

And allowing this power to go unchecked will ultimately lead to even more egregious violations of our rights.

When I was sworn in as a member of Congress, I vowed to protect and uphold the U.S. Constitution.

I cannot sit idly by as Americans' constitutional rights are continuously trampled on by an overreaching federal government.

That's why I opposed the Patriot Act several years ago, and it's why I oppose these aggressive TSA security measures which are a clear violation of our Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

If these intrusive TSA policies are allowed to continue without being addressed by Congress, then we have failed to protect that Constitutional freedom.

After nearly 10 years in existence, the Transportation Security Administration is overdue for a thorough review of its policies to ensure that both its fiscal and procedural integrity is intact.

That review should include additional options for airline security, such as private sector ideas and entities, which may be able to do a better job at a lower cost - and stop the continual expansion of the federal government.

A wise man once said that he who sacrifices freedom for security ends up with neither.

Let's not allow that to happen.

— Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, is member of Congress for District 14, which includes Lee and parts of Collier and Charlotte counties. He was first elected in 2004 and is the ranking member of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee.