Safety or Rights?

Hey, it's Erin.
With any sort of "witchhunt", there seems to be certain characteristics displayed. One such is fear, that both motivates and suppresses opposition. But what that fear leads to is people sacrificing their rights in order for safety from some unknown enemy. For example, what went on in most of the McCarthy hearings technically would be illegal (I guess that's the word). But McCarthy was right in that there were spies in the government. The problem was how he went about finding them and prosecuting them. That leads to an important question, is it alright to work outside of the law in order to punish criminals (or so-called criminals)? Because allowing that, even once, creates a precedent for the future. Some people say that terrorism right now can be likened to McCarthyism and some think that the Patriot Act is a form of it. Obviously, true terrorists are dangerous and we would all to feel safe. But does that make it okay for the government to possibly spy on people? Restrict their ability to buy guns or board planes? The problem is there is no set profile for a terrorist, like there was none for a witch in "The Crucible". So what's more important?