451 is now always associated with censorship and the police state, but Bradbury gave a great interview, that was included in the some of the anniversary edition paperbacks later on, where he explained that his primary message when he wrote the book was about how our obsession with television was destroying literacy. The police state destroying books came about because the society was so far past literacy and into electronic media that they considered literacy abhorrent.
Remember, they had wall size video screens that
were interactive...