This is what we get, as a society, for not insisting that "Homeland Security" be shut down back in, say, late 2001, once it became clear that it could do absolutely no good for society, and would certainly cause great harm to Constitutional rights.
The permanent fear culture of security theater is now far too entrenched among moneyed interests. It will take a massive effort by the public and by Congress to even begin to uproot it.
The rule in American government is that only solutions that will be considered to any political problem must involve spending more money. If you want to shut down Homeland Security, I would suggest proposing replacing it with a new agency that can spend more money than Homeland Security is currently spending.
Wouldn't that be the same as just renaming the agency? It's going to be comprised of the same career people and contracting companies anyway. There needs to be hard restrictions on their powers.
When a strong regime receives new powers from the people they are rarely given back. Don't kid yourself, DHS, the Patriot Act, the border fence, and now SOPA, once they are passed they aren't ever going away.
The permanent fear culture of security theater is now far too entrenched among moneyed interests. It will take a massive effort by the public and by Congress to even begin to uproot it.