I hope I never

There was a possibility I could have been under surveillance.
-Julius Rosenberg 

The new face of McCarthyism is the no face NSA, and that is not an accident. 
Having no one in particular to hold accountable, Just a  nefarious agency, changes the dynamic from the past, when we could  pinpoint where and when  a government agency went so far as to treat Americans as the enemy, especially, when they are  more of the time participating in the most benign of actions like talking on the phone or viewing videos on YouTube.
By eliminating  the individual , and there is one, or maybe two, who enlisted the doctrine on what and how the government was going to serveil  it’s citizens, then there is no rally point, no kernel, or center of the problem to focus on and either eliminate or instill limitations on the  power.
Ultimately, this is as close as George Orwell could anticipate, without the usual veil of” protections and greater purpose”, without any demonstration of need or well defined goal, just the whim of the 21st century Joe, doing what he does best.