The US finally begins to crawl out of the third world

I'd say totalitarianism has become more common. That form of centralized state did not exist in pre-modern times. That must be one of the advanced and progressive things we should aspire to.

I agree that totalitarianism has become more common than it was 500 years ago- largely due to the technological advances in communication, transport, etc. that enabled governments to gain such control, although it has hardly become a consistent worldwide trend.