collapsed because in the end its government could do nothing. come the early 1990s the average soviet citizen lived in a country defeated in average, shot through with endemic violence, stricken with radically empty grocery shelves, increasingly worthless currency and ruled by an aging group of idiots whose governance veered between insane radicalism and lethal incompetence. it was a country like, well, like the one you and i live in today. do you remember the name of our country though? it s the united states of america. and that s the key to how we find a pathway out of this predicament. if the swamp ticks grown fat and happy off the federal government won t do their jobs, states must stand up and do it themselves. in essence, who am i? i m the guy who does his job. you must be the other guy. treat the federal government like the angry old relative sending all caps emails. you once imposed unlawful mandates by email. decide school policies where you have no authority.