This all makes me think to a Twilight Zone episode where Harry Morgan plays the eccentric uncle. Eccentric uncle is always searching for odd trinkets – spoon bent just so, a rocking horse with a missing left leg, etc. Finally nephew visits Eccentric Uncle to see what is up. He is greeted by a giant and tangled mechanism. Eccentric Uncle is sitting down and all of a sudden gets up with a mission to get something. Nephew follows and asks why it is so important to get XYZ. Eccentric Uncle responds XYZ in the machine is out of order and if a new XYZ isn’t found in ALEPH time then NATION ZETA is going to be struck by a tsunami. Eventually Eccentric Uncle is committed and Eccentric Uncle starts to tell Nephew what is wrong and needs fixing. Every time, the predicted disaster happens and eventually the Nephew is on his way to eccentricity.

The only difference being Eccentric Uncle knew what to do, our government I am not so confident about.