> they EXPECTED the people to throw off unjust rule.

I've read the denunciations in the Declaration of Independence, Patty: they apply just as much to Bog T* as they did to George III.

As for echoes of 1984, methinks the potential for that sort of dystopia is always present, because humans will insist on being human. The punchline of a programme about the Bund on PBS comes to mind:

Fascism is always home-grown.

* Thanks for the tyop, Ray. Herself was amused as well.