why?

I was wondering why they would even want to create a society like the one in The Handmaid's Tale. It seems so restrictive and almost all of the characters seem miserable and tense all of the time. Nobody, besides Nick, seems to be enjoying themselves at all. How did this come to happen? Why would anyone want this? I certainly would not want to live here. There is hardly any freedom and everyone has their set role in society with little flexibility. It seems to me a society like this would only form under extreme conditions. I bet people were panicking when the radiation began to effect fertility rates in the U.S. Many people then turned to religion as a solution to their problem since they had no other choice. They are now forced to encourage and protect the pregnancy on the handmaids because fertility is bad and children are highly valued. When people think they are in danger they panic and give up much of their rights as seen in many occasions in world history.