At least that would illicit a reaction out of the masses; that’s exactly why these authoritarians aim to slowly strangle our safety nets. We will apparently happily let them do it, as long as it doesn’t cause us immediate and perceivable harm.

There’s a huge issue with that, though, that seems all too often overlooked: by doing nothing, our systems will still fall behind. They will continue to decay, to lag increasingly behind our peers and adversaries. At absolute best, the inevitable death of 1,000 cuts marches on.