In much the same way as O2 is the "ground state" of a tank of ozone, the social structure you describe is the "ground state" of human societies. One of our problems is that we have forgotten how rare and fragile free societies are, and how easily they can "snap" back to the tyrannical norm.

It can't be overemphasized how much the Soviet Union relied on what it stole from free nations to maintain what semblance of modern technological society it had. Germany was under totalitarian rule for about a dozen years, mostly in a state of war, and was living off its human, financial, and technological heritage. In a couple of generations, had the Nazis abandoned dreams of empire and WWII never happened in Europe, Germany would have devolved economically and technologically to something indistinguishable from any other Eastern bloc country. Or worse.

What we call "modern civilization" has damn few refuges nowadays. As I said in another post, if America becomes Europe, who's going to be America?