First stop would be to run for a local elected office, like a school board, county/city treasurer, or something like that. If your city has some sort of city council, work your way up to that. From there, give mayor a go. Next stop might be your state legislature. From there, you might have enough popularity and name recognition to run for the US House. If the US Senate is your goal, you may have to spend more time at the state level -- controller, secretary of state, perhaps lieutenant governor or governor -- before you'll have the backing for a US Senate run.
And that's the thing. Even if everything goes to plan, you're looking at 10-20 years before you're competitive enough to get into US Congress (either chamber, but the Senate will take more work and time). I'm not surprised that it's hard for people to go from "I'm really upset with how the US is turning into a surveillance state; I wish there was something I could do to change that", to "I'm gonna ditch my existing career and dedicate the next several decades of my life to politics". And consider that doing all that is no guarantee you'll be successful! Even if you make it to the House or Senate, it'll still be a hugely uphill battle to get any kind of surveillance reform bill passed and signed into law.
It's like a freemium game that you pay for by gradually selling out to those who already have power. Sure, theoretically it's possible to win the freemium game without selling out, but that theoretical possibility serves only as marketing for the game itself.
This is why some of us oppose "big government". It's not necessarily that we all want a wild west with no laws, but there are a lot of layers of government between a citizen and national government and ideally as much decision-making power sits as low on that pyramid as possible so that people can plausibly "self-govern".
It also means that policies can be tailored to the needs of the people. The needs of dense urban populations are different from the needs of rural farmers, so you can't effectively govern both at the national level.
What other option is left, aside from rebirth? It's no coincidence that dark forces conspire to now "get out in front" of this zeitgeist and swap the baby in its cradle for something ugly.