The Patriot Act does nothing to stop terrorism. I think it was designed so the government can monitor ordinary Americans and increase its own power. If they actually wanted to stop terrorism, they would close down the borders and closely monitor immigrants/foreign visitors in ths country and and make various areas such as transportation, public works, etc, more secure. Instead we've seen the reverse happening - the border is incredibly porous and most of the pols are turning their heads away. A little ethnic/age/sex profiling would go a LONG way. Having a close look at the young males with Saudi, Jordanian and Egyptian passports would fix 95% of the problem.
Much better than giving up the freedoms.