"IIRC, the standard comment is, "Your an idiot."
Oh my, spoken like an expert on the subject. Must be true then.
In the event of a total nuclear strike on this nation, the mixture of air and ground burst multistage fusion weapons would leave, at the very least, 3/4 of the population dead. D-E-A-D... It is very unlikely any state capitol would not be a sheet of glowing glass. There would not be any "state or local governments" left to overrun. Just finding something nonradioactive to eat would be a major undertaking, therefore staying alive a priority.
These plans were put into place in the event the unthinkable took place. "Sacrificing human liberty" would be the least of the survivors worries. Salvaging human civilization is more along the lines of these plans.
Now, who is the idiot, "Sir"?