Most people can be very active in promoting a cause if they truly care about it.
Effective activism usually requires being aggressive and pushy, refusing to take no for an answer, persistence, and quite frankly, a thick skin. In addition, an activist must realize that no matter how right the cause, how many people may be affected, and how much good can be done by Congressional action, progress will almost never occur spontaneously. There is always resistence to change. Some program or person is always threatened by change, and there is vast inertia. The only way to assure success is to push and push and push.