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I think it's quite the opposite... you notice the pat-down at the airport because it's a change. The restrictions on your freedom that have been there all along? Not noticed.
You could skip the airport pat-down by going there nude, but you'd be arrested. Why? You haven't done anything to anyone else. Other people are offended, but they don't have a right not to be offended.
Before the pat-down, you were still subject to marginally constitutional requirements in order to fly. Very few people objected. Penn Jillette used to carry a business card-sized bill of rights, engraved in bronze, in his shirt pocket when going through airport security. When asked to remove whatever metallic object was causing the metal detector to go off, he would take out the bronze card, hand it over, and say something like "I'm giving up my rights in order to get on this airplane."
The loss and gain of rights changes over time, but it's nice to remember that we gain rights without noticing. There was a time when it was considered obscene to air the sound of a toilet flush over the radio. There was a time when it was illegal to brew your own beer. You still can't hunt or fish in many places without a license. Gun rights? There's a tough one.
The pat-down is minor to me in comparison.
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