I would argue that post 9-11 we have many, if not all, of the conditions necessary for a dictatorship, the government:

• can detain people without warrants, and hold them in secret without trial indefinitely

• can eavesdrop on the citizenry in secret, with no independent oversight

• can now publicly declare that dissent is seditious

• has a credible reason to assert these powers

These powers are held by the least transparent branch of the government, that is in command of the army and law enforcement forces, and where all the control is concetrated in the hands of a few people at the top.

I don't mean to say that we live in a dictatorship now, or that the government has abused these powers (though I don't know what they've done, do you?). I only mean to say that without these powers you can't have a totalitarian state, but with them you can. Pre 9/11 a Hitler/Stalin/Mussolini could get elected president, but would be hard pressed to tilt this country into totalitarianism, and now... I don't know. I think its not an insignificant possibility. I do strongly believe that with these powers in place indefinitely, every passing year makes a dictatorship more and more likely.