What you forget is that the state is Kafkaesque. Laws are never enforced as written, and many innocent citizens are inadvertantly and randomly caught in the maw of the state. Then they must bankrupt themselves as they try to prove their innocence, sometimes while languishing in prison.
Look at RICO. It was intended to go after organized crime, but it's been used against a whole host of groups the govt doesn't like.
The more powerful the state, the fewer our civil liberties, the easier it is for a false accusation or paranoid federal agent to destroy innocent lives.