Reply #21

It definitely makes a difference whether or not people support what's going on in various countries in the Middle East.

Many people who are active posters on DU are also active in the real world - where things do make a difference. Personally, I think you are fooling yourself if you think "congressional staffers" are reading posts here as representative of "what the base supports." What is true, though, is that people who post here also make phone calls, publish web sites, work for campaigns, engage in protests and directions, etc. That kind of thing often does make a difference.

With respect to who is accountable to "us" and who isn't - please remember that the United States is very intimately involved in what is going on in the Arab Spring. Our weapons, our money, our support - whether for or against the various regimes is often times the difference maker. You ask how you are supporting these regimes. How about by paying taxes? Egypt, for instance, gets a substantial amount of aid from the US. This is the I/P forum - people who aren't happy about what Israel is doing go out and protest the fact that the US sends them money and sells them weapons. That is making a statement that matters against a regime for which we have some responsibility for funding. Egypt is in a very similar situation. They have been right behind Israel in terms of financial assistance. We also give a lot of money to the Palestinian Authority. Some in Congress want to cut off this aid due to Hamas's potentioal role in the new government, others don't. But to say that none of these issues are relevant to progressives or that there is nothing we can do - that we have no power is just plain wrong.