"Totalitarianism of one kind or another has always, and will always, be the default governance system."

Absolutely. Give the vast majority of humans three square meals a day, transportation, cell phones and they will vote, either directly or by inaction, for a dictatorship every time.  History has shown that the fight for basic human rights is typically the realm of the radical handfull (i.e. not even big enough to qualify for the term "minority") as evidence by the early American revolutionaries and all those who have followed their example.