Bordering Paranoia

Have you actually read your passport?  I know, I hadn't either.
Here's what it states:
'The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection.'
Without delay or hindrance, huh.  Well, here's what one has to deal with when entering back into the the U.S. these days.
My personal experience:
Arrive from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Detroit, November 22, 2010.  I was in a long long line with fellow American travelers snaking around belted partitions as a squat black woman barked orders at us like a military officer.  There were four customs officers perched in bullet proof glass cages processing everyone.  I was at the line of discretion, uneasy, and met the testosterone filled eyes of a bulky, shaved-head customs guard.  I didn't say hi and get all deferential like I normally do.  This time I wanted to feel like he was serving me, not the other way around.
He asked me if I was traveling alone, what I was doing abroad, what I was doing home, where I was living, who I would be staying with in the United States.  My answers were satisfactory and he gave my passport a stamp and I was on to pick up my baggage.
Everyone must pick up their baggage and re-check it now, even if one has a connecting flight.  So, I got my suitcase and got in line at yet another custom officer's checkpoint station.  As we all waited patiently in line, a woman holding a nervous German shepherd on a leash looped her way around, urging the dog to sniff us, our possessions, bags and suitcases.  The dog lingered, snuffling on a woman's rolling suitcase and the woman officer screamed, 'Are you carrying any food items with you today, Ma'am?'  The woman said no.  The dog continued.  My stomach turned to liquid with fear.  I was smuggling in stinky, runny, raw milk French cheese and a bag of butter cookies.  Thankfully the dog didn't catch on.  Then, it was finally my turn to stand before the second customs officer who looked just like the first.  He asked me again if I was traveling alone, what I was doing in France.  As I answered, he half listened, looking at my passport photo, then me, my photo, then me again, then said, 'you look familiar, that's why I keep staring at you.'  Then he asked if my husband was planning on coming to the United States at a future date.  Then he asked me if I was bringing any food items into the U.S.
He wrote something on my customs card and kept it and let me go.  There was another barricade of officers who were choosing people at random to enter into a small room called, 'Baggage Search' where our bags would be gone through extensively by a man wearing rubber gloves.  I was glad to go by unpicked.  I rechecked my baggage and had to go through another security checkpoint even though we had all just come from Paris where we had all passed through the x-rays and scans and into this secure customs area and we had to go through it all......again...?
A fellow American behind me was disgruntled, 'Why do we have to do this all again?  This is just ridiculous, do we really have to take our shoes off again?'
The security guard sang out, 'yes, take off your shoes, take off your belts, put your keys, coats, bags, electronic devises in the trays.'
So, we walked one by one over the filthy, cold floors in stocking feet through the scanner to get yet another dose of radiation.  Some of my traveling companions were chosen at random to enter the glass alien pod puffer machine, others got a pat down, others a purse pillage.  Finally, I was able to enter the Detroit airport proper.
I passed, but with hindrance and delay. Don't get me wrong, I think some security is necessary, but I feel the 'terrorists' have won if the nation is terrorizing it's own citizens.  Does grandma really need a pat down or a full body x-ray?  Come on!