I did a poor job of explaining myself despite my over-sized rhetoric. It's one thing to point to specific provisions of a policy and say "In the following case, Provision A had Effect B" and show the specifics. It's another to espouse platitudes with to backing data about a hypothetical scenario and claim ideological superiority.

So, no, criticisms of the Patriot Act backed by data are not stupid, especially if the criticism is up front and says "we believe this to be true."