One of the things you can deduce from the acceptance of mass surveillance in the US is that the fundamental democratic connection between the public and the government; the “of the People, by the People, and for the People” element, has eroded to the point where people see the government as a faceless entity rather than as being comprised of members of the same community. The government has become in people’s minds like a ghost, an omnipotent, omnipresent spectre instead of a friend.
You would not give your friend all the passwords to your email and social media accounts, you would not give them access to everything on your mobile phone, for instance. But you do not object to the government having this kind of access. That is indicative of the extent to which our relationship with the government and our feelings about it, have changed.