Whats really going on?

Everyone knows that the US is paranoid about getting attacked, but to what extent are they willing to protect themselves. They say that America has freedom, but for a country with so much freedom why are we always under surveillance. Think about it. It all started off with the anthrax scare. They found anthrax in the mail so now they check all packages and letters that come into the country and now we hear nothing about anthrax anymore. Next we move on to the WTC bombings. Terrorists come crash planes into one of Americas landmarks killing hundreds of people. How do they get all their messages to all their members? By phone of course. Now phone lines are under surveillance all the time looking for terrorist messages, but also picking up on all other conversations as well. What is americas real motives? Are they trying to protect their citizens or are they watching them? Is the war just a starting point in slowly taking control of the rest of the world? Who made America the police patrol of the world and why does it have the authority to create nuclear weapons when other countries do not? There are millions of theorys on what America has been doing and their reasons behind them, but I don't want to get into them. All I'm asking is how much the government is listening into our supposedly "private" lives.