Suppose the American government was planning to impose a dictatorial regime upon the American people....

.....the following preparations would be essential:

1. Concentrate the populace in megalopolitan masses so that they can
be kept under close surveillance and where, in case of trouble, they
can be bombed, burned, gassed or machine-gunned with a minimum
of expense and waste.

2. Mechanize agriculture to the highest degree of refinement, thus
forcing most of the scattered farm and ranching populations into the
cities. Such a policy is desirable because farmers, woodmen, cowboys,
Indians, fishermen and other relatively self-sufficient types are
difficult to manage unless displaced from their natural environment.

3. Restrict the possession of firearms to the police and
regular military organizations.

4. Encourage or at least fail to discourage population growth. Large masses
of people are more easily manipulated and dominated than scattered individuals.

5. Continue military conscription. Nothing excels military training for
creating in young men an attitude of prompt, cheerful obedience to
officially constituted authority.

6. Divert attention from deep conflicts within the society by engaging
in foreign wars; make support of these wars a test of loyalty, thereby
exposing and isolating potential opposition to the new order.

7. Overlay the nation with a finely reticulated network of communications,
airlines and interstate autobahns.

8. Raze the wilderness. Dam the rivers, flood the canyons, drain the swamps,
log the forest, strip-mine the hills, bulldoze the mountains, irrigate
the deserts and improve the national parks into national parking lots.

Edward Abbey