In 1994, I was part of a protest group trying to stop the building of a dual carriageway
One day we were accosted by an old gent. "Go away, you're spoiling my view!"
"The road will clip the end of your garden. Won't that spoil your view?"
"I'll deal with it when it comes"
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Since then, I've thought of that encounter as a metaphor for our political paralysis.
We watch authoritarianism rising, and tell ourselves "it hasn't happened yet, we'll deal with it when it comes."
We watch the gathering climate crisis and say "we'll deal with it when it comes"

But all our developing crises are much easier to address before they mature.
Otherwise we end up as I picture that old gent after the road was built, waving his stick at the traffic and shouting, "Go away, you're spoiling my view!"