User's Guide to Totalitarianism

     If you want to set up a totalitarian government, there are some tried and true steps to take.  You can't do it without the buy-in of a good majority of the people, and you have to hope they are weak minded enough to be convinced the government provides for their needs.
     A very good start is to take over healthcare.  It's about 1/6th of the economy.  It's a great equalizer---everybody (well, excpet for you since you run the government) gets the same care regardless of ability to pay.  Unfortunately, once government takes over healthcare and it's 'free', demand skyrockets, and without revenue, people stop becoming doctors and nurses---but I digress.
     Next, belittle religion.  Tell people they are clinging to their Bibles, or religion is a crutch (just hope they are too blind to see the people with strong faiths usually aren't the ones neding a crutch, but I digress) You don't want them helping others in the name of God---those helpees might get the impression things don't always come from the benevolent government.
     It's very important totake away guns.  Once your totalitarian government is in place, and the utopian promises you had to make to get there go unfulfilled, the people WILL turn on you.  It happens every time, especially with people who have tasted freedom already.  Don't just take their guns away---build yourself great flying guns and make it clear you're willing to use these against those that fall out of line.
    Blame others as the standard of living continues to fall.  Control the media so you can keep telling people how great things are---you can always make statistics say what you need, like reporting 7.5% unemployment (U-1  Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force) Works much better than reporting the actual record low in labor force participation at 63.5%.
     Tell them there's plenty chocolate.  If there's not, blame George Bush or create another bogeyman that gave all the chocolate to the wealthy.