You make all the same points that I have screamed the last 20 years. People will tolerate tyranny until it can no longer be tolerated - IOW, when it brakes down their own front door; an, in your words, by then it is too late.
The problem is called “normalcy bias” ... Its effects will destroy this nation - and us with it.
Unfortunately, I cannot here state my true thoughts on the matter, less I get banned! But I suspect you and others likely perceive what they are.
Then we share the same thinking, which the Beast, the Ruling Class and EVERYONE with a shred of Normalcy Bias will seek to destroy.
We are witnessing the exact same mental subjugation that the people of Germany gave into the Nazis, the Russians under Lenin then Stalin, and the Chinese under Mao.
Create a climate of fear. Demonize and blame the selected political enemies for the misery the State has created, and WALA! 365 million instant Federal informants and snitches who will turn in their own parents for the promise of bread.
And sir, we are already there. We simply have not had enough misery or ‘examples’ being made by the Beast yet for even the ardent patriots to take notice of what has already been accomplished.
Leaderless resistance will become absolutely essential - if you want to survive what is about to happen to us.