I've seen the Patriot Act work in my favor...but have yet to see it work
against me or any other law-abiding citizen that I know.



When you see it work against you, it will be too late to do anything about it.

It's one thing to use these powers on "terorists", but as you discovered first
hand
the law enforcement agencies are all too quick to use these powers to usurp the
constitutional rights of others suspected of
non-terror offenses as well.

Everybody agrees that we should crack down on "Terrorists".

Our founding fathers, for good or ill, created some specific guidelines we must
observe when pursuing common criminals.
Their intent was to prevent fraudlent or groundless prosecution based on
political preferance or personal ambition- as can be more common in a monarchy.

I struggle to think of a government, anywhere in history, that had the sweeping
powers available to it that the Patriot Act bestows on the the US government
and that did not, ultimately, direct those powers against its political, as
well as criminal, opponents.