Maybe spending untold billions of dollars on a mass surveillance state that cows the population into authoritarian submission is a phyrric response to the threat of terrorism.

Terrorism which is exacerbated by our own shadowy geopolitical agendas...

And it's ludicrous to say "We shall have a mass surveillance system or mass terrorism!", as if security theater revealed the actual effectiveness of such actions!

Do you love giving Leviathan the sword it stabs you with, the whip that scourages you, and the mouth which mocks your humanity?