Aside from the privacy aspects, one of my main gripes with the surveillance state is the return on investment. Who are we protecting ourselves from again, and

Aside from the privacy aspects, one of my main gripes with the surveillance state is the return on investment. Who are we protecting ourselves from again, and what are the risks of loss of life and property for me and the ones that I love? Why are 'they' trying to kill 'me' and break my stuff? Or, are they after someone else? And, if they really are after me, are there more effective ways to get them to stop? Is it really an 'existential threat'? (What does that even mean?). And, how does it compare to other threats that I face? How does an average citizen like me even rationally assign a price that I'm willing to pay when the facts are so obscured. I hear a lot of people (who I don't necessarily trust) yelling 'fire', but I don't see any smoke or feel any heat. And, conveniently, it just so happens that those people are the ones in charge of taking my money and my freedoms.