I guess I see this issue the same way I see gun control. There are those who say "It's OK if the govt. disarms us - we can trust them to protect us like a parent protects a child."
If there was a some way you could GUARANTEE me an honest leader to whom I could hand over the keys to my life then I would gladly allow them read my mail, listen to my phone conversations, search my home, review my credit card purchases, and do all of the other wonderful things allowed by the PATRIOT ACT.
The problems is, these aren't parents, but politicians. They're not related to us, they don't know us, and what's more, they change every 4 years or so! Add to that the fact that their careers are based on PR and influence peddling and I just don't feel comfortable handing over the reins to my life in this way.
However, people do get the leaders they deserve, we wouldn't have surrendered our freedoms in this matter if that wasn't what most people wanted, so I suppose we will have to just cross our fingers and hope for the best.
Anyway, the horse is already out of the barn, so that's all we can do now anyway is hope for the best. That, and pray.