Has everyone forgotten the klinton years? Carnivore, Clipper Chip, digital tapping ports, the war on cryptography? The FBI could walk in and rummage through sales records, library records, hotel registrations, etc. "Roaming wire taps." A record number of "national security" black bag jobs, but nothing to show for it. The list goes on. It sounds a lot like the Patriot Act, only worse. And the klintons didn't even need a law passed. They just did it, or were going to do it.
Oh, and they were doing it to protect us from "tax cheats, pornographers, gun runners, and militia". While there were protests from conservatives and privacy advocates, where was mostly cheering from the leftist media.
Yes, I have concerns about the Patriot Act, but less than what we've already gone through with the klintons. And as far as it being used against Free Republic, I have no doubt that several government agencies continue to monitor this site, simply because something started by the klintons takes on an unholy life of its own, and nameless federal bureaucrats continue to crank out reports that nobody ever read.
That's what I've been trying to tell so many of the tinfoil FReepers. The Patriot Act in this incarnation clearly delineates, in writ and law, what can and can't be done.
The Clinton Gang, as you said, never bothered with what was legal. They simply pursued their enemies, running them to ground.
They won't listen. They are convinced of, and comforted by, their paranoia.