So what? The government can "snort" up my telephone conversations....and they will hear endless mundane complaints about aches and pains and strange smells and quickly either barf or move on since none of this has anything to do with overthrowing the government....How have I been harmed?

Phil

Because it's a slippery slope, Phil. You either have a right to privacy, or you don't.

Maybe someday we have a president who doesn't like your position on guns/abortion/peace/war/illega­l aliens/whatever, so he decides it's a good idea to single-out and penalize you and other people like you. So he uses wiretaps to identify you and your like-minded devients.

You might consider that the main thing that separates us from nations like the former USSR are our civil liberties. We shouldn't be so willing to give them up.

Golly Phil, are you assuming that the government will get it right? What happens if they confuse you in those big switches with some foriegn terrorist? Can you prove you are innocent? Opps, you won't have that opportunity -- there are no provisions for warrents or court oversite of any kind if they don't feel like it. But, cheer up, the courts are pretty sure you still have the right to a hearing -- sometime.

Context is everything. Your conversations might sound mundane to you, but to someone casting a wide net looking for terrorism plots even banal conversation can sound suspicious.

And what about making off-colour jokes? Or expressing actual dissatisfaction with the US government?