So on one hand, we have the execution of a warrant or subpoena that is narrowly written, specific and reasonable, based on probable cause, and signed by a judge.

On the other hand, we have recently seen much greater evidence about the wholesale surveillance of society under secret law and apparently not accountable in any practical sense to oversight.

The first is normal and appropriate and well within the bounds of civil liberties guaranteed by Fourth Amendment. The second is highly problematic - but one doesn't necessarily lead to the other. Our civil liberties and civil rights have always been subject to appropriate exceptions. The problem is when those exceptions become so broad as to render the freedoms ineffective, not that they exist at all.