The Patriot Act is one of the grand distractions of the 21st century.
Google “Echelon” folks. The Patriot Act is nothing and is not affecting our civil liberties.
My only real problem with the patriot act was that it didn’t clearly exclude American citizens.
Fact is, if we were a remotely sensible nation the patriot act would have never come about because 9/11 would have never come about.