The people are the last to really feel the effects of a terminal decline related the the collapse of a nation state. The government will attempt to save itself by imposing more and more mundane laws and to utilize propaganda to not only obstruct how bad the decay is but to also buy time to bolster it's internal defenses in defending itself against the very citizens it's supposed to protect.
Societal rot is a prelude to economic and government rot as everyone becomes more invested in themselves rather than the collective, one bee cannot carry the entire hive. Avarice, lust, narcissism, etc..infects the system and breaks it down from the inside, the insidious infection then shows itself once the bones have given way.
First society must become completely and utterly corrupt then the economic foundation must be allowed to decay and then once the government realizes that society and the economic system is fractured, the government will self immolate trying to save itself in the face of instability.
We're at this witnessing the self immolation of the US Government in it's current form trying to save the rotted economic structure while bolstering it's own crumbling foundations to deal with future mass civil calamities the likes of which has not been seen in history and which can only be slightly compared to lead up to the death of the Western Roman Empire.
I fear you all unprepared but you're all not so blind to see the cracks spreading out. There's a void in the world now that has people reaching desperately out to the past, where the senses were at rest..those living waters have receded before the tide brings the waves of darkness to crash down upon you with the such force that you're brought out of your slumber with disastrous consequences.