How does the government control the lives of the people?

In Fahrenheit 451 the government erases the past, so the people don't know that the society was different before. The firemen burn the books because the books are written about the past. The government also brainwashes the society to think that books are bad. When a person has books in their house the firemen come and burn it. If I lived in this society I would be afraid to have books in my house if this would happen. The government uses books as scare tactics. The society thinks "The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are." The government somewhat brainwashes the people to think this. By telling them that the books are about how they are "asses and fools" makes them not want to read the books. The government can also control the amount of education that the people in the society get. By shortening classes and extending the amount of playing sports at school the society can decrease the amount of education that the people get. By changing certain aspects of the society the government can control how much the people know about the past. Since the people think the government was always like this, then they don't know any different. The people can only be taught what the government will allow. In the book Clarisse tells Montage about her uncle talking about front porches. Her uncle said "No front porches. My uncle says there used to be front porches. And people sat there sometimes at night, talking when they wanted to talk, rocking, and not talking when they didn't want to talk. Sometimes they just sat their and thought about things, turned things over"(63). The government got rid of front porches because it gave people time to sit and think. The government doesn't want the people to have time to think. When people have time to think they might think about what the government is hiding from them. By getting rid of something like a front porch the government can control what the people will do or if they will have time to think.