What is Totalitarianism?

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Here's another term the Bush administration has been throwing around. So I looked it up on the Wikipedia and I found this description of totalitarian regimes most interesting.

[Totalitarian regimes maintain themselves in political power by means of secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics.]

Good thing we don't have some unseen agency dedicated to national security working behind the scenes keeping tabs on us through unconstitutional means. Lucky no one's taking advantage of terror to maintain their power.