I agree w KGBman that things are not changing that drastcly in terms of civil liberties, there is just more information about it. If anything, the governemnt can get away with less infringement now than ever before in this nation, because their actions are under a magnifying glass. I disagree though, that this information overload is a negative development for "civilization". People think this is important - all the better. It is.
My concerns about the future of this nation stem more from our economic policies, education, social fabric breakdown/demographic issues, etc.
A case can be made (and I've heard attempts, mainly on conservative talk radio) that these things can be pigeonholed as longer-term violations of civil liberities in themselves. If this approach works, this is what gets people interested, fine.
But as far as my personal freedom/immunity from things Leah listed, an individual American is more protected now than they would have been in the 1970s. And more in the 70s than in the 50s. And so forth. Proportional to information availability and evolution of mass media.
"The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money" -Margaret Thatcher
