One of the helpful things someone said at a social justice meeting was ask for all the things, don't hold back. I think we are often encouraged by the status quo to ask for small incremental change. To not expect big things to quickly from large institutions.
Except when you are working with others, especially others with goals counter to yours, big asks are the only way you even get something close to what you want.
I once hopped in a cab. It was New Year's. I was not drunk, just car free and I had missed the last metro train. I caught the cab in Maryland but need to get to DC. When you cross jurisdictions like that the cab drivers sometimes attempt negotiation. The cab driver proposed I pay him $50. (I am making these numbers up, this was a while ago.) I said absolutely not and offered to get out of the cab.
He asked for a counter offer and I said $10. Now I knew this was a maybe a $20 ride but he started with with more than double that, so I went super low as a counter balance. And do you know what happened. He decided to turn the meter on instead. He tapped it when it hit ten (about halfway home) and I wisely did not make a big deal of it still being less than $50 when we arrived.
When people are trying to convince you that there are too many human rights, or too much due process, responding with reasonable counters just pushes you closer to what they wanted. So dream big, and make big asks.
