I remember well, "The Patriot Act" was already written waiting for this.

Everyone came together in the days after the attacks, but in hindsight 9/11 looks like the moment when everything started to fall apart. 

 

Was 9/11 the beginning of the end for America? In the 22 years since the attacks, I’ve begun to worry that the answer to that question is “yes.”

It spawned the worst and most destructive foreign policy in the country’s history. The government response to 9/11 birthed the constitutional abomination that is the modern warrantless surveillance state. The Patriot Act enabled the government to weaponize its vast resources against its own people.

 From the Federalist.