You're describing wedge issues that politicians use to get people to fight red vs blue. Anyone that has ever brought up the subject of privacy and domestic spying has been lambasted as a conspiracy nut.
They are wedge issues because people care. You don't see teenagers standing on the sidewalks getting people to sign petitions to address domestic spying after all.
No, they are wedge issues because politicians are able to divide voters through manipulation, dogma and money from lobbying power. Once a politician tells voters (or teenagers) that domestic spying is an 'issue' then they'll care. That's how the game works.
