FBI Whines That Some ISPs Stand Up to Them → Abuse of power for government to spy on citizens.

There is a difference between an active investigation about a specific legal issue and trolling to look for something illegal. There is a whole new police schemes called stings. The same thing holds true with spying on citizens. With advancements in technology communication whether voice of text can be screened for key words. Call your accountant about a questionable tax exemption and get audited by the IRS. Ask a doctor about medical marijuana and get a visit by the DEA.

You see the abuse of power to spy at the airport. The purpose of the TSA was to prevent terrorist acts by passengers. When the protectors use their authority to snoop on passengers, that is over the top. The TSA questioning a person about their prescription controlled substances is outrageous and none of the governments business. Bring to much money with you and it might be seized as drug money and you will have to prove it was legal. Screening for anything other then weapons or dangerous materials should be declared illegal. The turn of this century was the end of respect for the constitution.

What about the "Alien and Sedition Acts"? Turn of Eighteenth to Nineteenth Centuries. Ink was barely dry on the Constitution!

And then there were the Loyalty Oaths that citizens were required to sign during various times for various reasons since the United States of America was founded. Most recently was during the McCarthy Era's Red Scare. More about Loyalty Oaths in Wikipedia here:

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo ··· lty_oath

“Secrecy is the keystone to all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy and censorship. When any government or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man who has been hoodwinked in this fashion; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, whose mind is free. No, not the rack nor the atomic bomb, not anything. You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”
Robert A. Heinlein

The trouble with demonizing McCarthy is that it ignores the very real internal threat that communism presented. The fall of the Soviet Union led to the release of Soviet files (VENONA intercept) that PROVED the Soviet NKVD had 221 agents within the Roosevelt administration, and there where likely many others from the KGB. McCarthy wasn't a paranoid nut - he was right. I want to protect the Constitution, but I wonder how many jihadists (whether actual Islamic or simply leftists) or are lurking within the Obama administration. Some of them seem to be overt in their hatred of the US. Eric Holder, for example, comes to mind. The question is, how do we get the government to protect us from the government - an entity that is not uniform in its goals.

But even a broken clock (dial face) is right twice a day; just try to figure out when. "Tail-Gunner Joe" McCarthy flailed away at the U.S. Army (particularly the Signal Corps), but could not substantiate his allegations of subversion. He accused Gen. George C. Marshal of incompetence for "losing China to the Communists". VENONA only shows 9, of 159 accused by McCarthy, were likely subversive agents. Not a promising record.