Susan B. Anthony’s warning hinges on a simple tension: reform changes the rules, and changing the rules almost always unsettles the people who benefit from them. If someone is primarily focused on staying comfortable and approved of, they are unlikely to take the steps that provoke criticism, conflict, or loss.
For that reason, Anthony frames caution as more than a personality trait—it becomes a political limitation. Reformers must be willing to be misunderstood, disliked, or labeled “improper,” because entrenched norms rarely yield to polite requests alone. [...]
