I'll defend dad06's right to express his unusual views. They are thought-provoking. But comparing "state control" over US citizens in 2007 to anything that happened under the Roman emperors, French kings, or more-recent dictators just doesn't make any sense to me. Our freedoms are vast, as are the limitations placed on us by the modern world, including our government, corporations, and culture. Dad06 is helping us to see both sides.
I am careful not to include recent states. The French revolution is really the demarcation point. That legitimized the "state as god" aspect of modern political movements.
Here are a few broad things we suffer under that the Romans and Peasants did not:
income tax, property tax, regulation of business, regulation of markets, private vehicle regulation and licensing, restrictions on private use of land, restrictions on private use of your own person.
To be sure the older tyrants were much quicker to use the sword against those who violated their considerably thinner ledgers, but the end result is the same today if disobedience is carried out to its fullest extent.