Not sure about this one...
No one start's a totalitarian state because they have to?
Well look at a number totalitarian states - For example Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe. He starts off being the iconic hero in a dystopian novel - over throwing the colonial invaders and looking for ways to give the oppressed minority a share in the exploited wealth of the county. I don't know anything by personal experience but according to Wikipedia 5 years later '10,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed by Mugabe's Fifth Brigade'. Is he evil ? Wikipedia calls him 'controversial and divisive figure' ( aka Evil ).
So why ( and how ) did Zimbabwe become a totalitarian state? Desperation - the country was falling apart and totalitarian helped maintain stability and control. If he was a fictional character I would guess he would be strongly aligned to trying to keep his vision of a future world 'done right'.

YOU ARE READING
Notes on Writing Science Fiction
Non-FictionThis is notebook on writing. Mostly for my own use. Currently mostly videos