The coming collapse...

There are signs out there that the whole thing is falling apart, and that the government is preparing to hold the civil unrest down and make everything better.

Duh, you are looking in the wrong direction. The collapse is never with the citizens and the peoples - it is always the failure of the government. Probably because the people that believe they are in charge - stop being effective leaders, rulers, or elected representatives. They stopped working like they owned the title.

A leader in the Army will always be the one making things happen. There are official leaders and un-official leaders - may your units always have the two working together to make the mission work and get everyone back to safety for rest and recovery... sometimes they don't.

So, if the TEA Party is part of the problem with the Democrats in the Senate not being able to pass a budget, or a much needed law - the idea that the TEA Party is the problem is not a solution. Duh. Excuses don't make things happen, they just make everyone no longer feeling bad about failure. David Crockett's ghost talking to Jim Bowie's ghost about how they should have done it different, just doesn't matter - they made a big enough statement that even in their failure the die was cast and Mexico lost Texas. No one really outside of Texas celebrates the other places the little Napoleon of the West killed everyone in rebellion. In Mexico nor Texas - the idea that dictators are going to be good guys, someday... doesn't pass the History test.

There was lots of great leadership, political, military and economic in Russia during WWI but they didn't share a common goal -- some nobles thought they were, duh. And workers wanted to be united and oppressed because they didn't see the changing rulers didn't make the world brighter... The current government failures and continued beating their heads and ours against the wall of stupid silence and political correctness - none of that will fix the nation. Selective hearing, pretending that if feels good and we should do it harder and longer and make more noise about it.... won't bring back America. America is the land of the free the home of the brave... and most of what was America, is waiting for SWAT to descend on their party and ruin it for everyone.

Historically, all government collapse is before the civilian folks and peoples give up, the peoples will fight long after their kings, presidents and thugs in charge are dead and gone.... really. Look it up.