Great response in a reddit discussion about "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear".

[felix_numinous]

32. People who are upset at surveillance now

are people who understand history. People, like myself, who have heard first hand experiences of life under a dictatorship. During the Bush administration, I heard from people who came to America as refugees from a dictatorship who were deeply disturbed, and said that 'it is happening here, this is how it starts.'

I am not sure if the window of opportunity to do something about this has passed. But I do know as time goes on, it becomes more and more dangerous to act..

By the time it becomes obvious even to the teabaggers, it is too late. The thing is, most Americans, even those who work for NSA and intelligence gathering, tell themselves these programs are for the greater good.

The difference between apologists and people who are disturbed by state surveillance--is the REALITY of SOCIOPATHS. We are being asked to trust all the people in these government agencies, but have been witnessing the system becoming pathological.

We are being asked to "trust us" while we witness unchecked police brutality and unprecedented incarceration----WE KNOW what is going down, dammit.