[tejay]

I am probably naive, but I still doubt the ability of the US Government or even the National Security State (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security#National_secu...) to be tightly wound enough to advance together to attack our civil liberties in concert. Look at what a mess they've created in other aspects of nat'l policy.

Rather, I believe this slow but steady institutional creep against our civil liberties is mostly the work of independent bureaucrats who realize that by expanding their individual silos of power (i.e., expanding what their departments surveil and parse), they're a) keeping open the funding spigot, b) expanding their personal power and c) solidifying their job security. "National defense," since 1776, but especially since World War 2, has always been a bi-partisan rallying cry, after all.

In practice, the guys who get on TV (also known elected leaders), try as they might, have very little control over what actual policy is implemented in the realm of national security. They're just appealing to our most base instincts to remain elected, I think.