I wonder how many Swiss and Japanese terrorists have had their plots foiled due to the life-saving shield of ESTA.

How is this not a violation of whatever agreements all these other countries signed to let us in without any paperwork, and yet they have to file paperwork to get into the USA?

Maybe next we can quarantine all new arrivals for 72 hours in some kind of security camp, where they'll endure an arduous interview process to make sure they're safe -- run by highly qualified TSA geniuses.

I -- US citizen -- was once almost denied boarding of an international flight because the airline's system had screwed up my passport information, and they thought I would need a visa to return to the US (and of course I didn't have a visa). I found this out at the airport. Luckily I was able to get it resolved in time by showing the airline agents my passport, and a supervisor was able to override or correct something to let me get a boarding pass, but relying on the kindness and competence of front-line airport staff is risky at best. I might just as easily have encountered someone who would tell me "The computer says no, and I can't do anything for you when the computer says no".

That’s not a thing. There are enough real problems without making more of them up.

Your post though, I think, outlines the flaw in this argument. Which is that most people don't know the rules of entry for foreign visitors to their own country, and wouldn't therefore know how onerous it is. Why would a US passport holder (by birth, of whom I assume there are a lot more than people who've acquired one after immigrating) have any clue what I, as a UK citizen, need to do in order to spend my vacation or whatever in Miami?

I'm certainly hazy on what the current rules are for US citizens to come to the UK. I think we have a visa-waiver programme in place, but I don't know what it entails at all, and whether it's already as terrible for US citizens coming here as it is for me going to the US.

So instigating those sorts of changes here is probably unlikely to have the effect that poster was hoping for. Hmm. This turned into a much longer ramble than I thought it would.