Damn Fool Activists

One person rarely makes a difference. The government does not listen. Once the die is cast, no amount of activism will change the result. Anyone who ignores these truths, and devotes huge amounts of personal time and energy to attempt to turn the government train once it is rolling down the tracks, for no other purpose than the public good, must be crazy.

Even so:

...the citizen who thinks he sees that the commonwealth's political clothes are worn out, and yet holds his peace and does not agitate for a new suit, is disloyal; he is a traitor.

-Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court