The price of security

When defending the Bush administration's NSA domestic spying program many Conservatives state that the security of the country is at stake, and that we must make certain sacrifices in this time of war. I ran across this quote from Wilhelm Röpke that I thought was apropos

The desire for security, while in itself natural and legitimate, can become an obsession which ultimately must be paid for by the loss of freedom and human dignity—whether people realize it or not. In the end, it is clear that whoever is prepared to pay this price is left neither with freedom and dignity nor with security, for there can be no security without freedom and protection from arbitrary power. Surely, every single one of us must then realize that security is one of those things which recede further and further away the more unrestrainedly and violently we desire it.