Naji Dahi wrote:
>
> Doug,
>
> It is very simple, just follow the money. From opensecrets.org, it seems
> that pro-israel pacs contribute the largest share from the ideological pacs
> category in Delay's 2000 re-election campaign. Would you not say that there
> is a direct correlation between the money given and speaking out in favor of
> Israel. It seems pretty clear to me.
>
Correlation does not mean much, because the "causal" line, if any, can run in either direction. I imagine a rather large mixture of (not wholly coherent) motives enter into any policy decision, whether of a nation or a small corporation or a village church, and I don't think it politically useful to soecykate on motives even in the rare cases in which they are obvious.
Israel and the U.S. have clearly run amuck, and it is the task oif progressives to marshall opposition to their policies, however motivated. Moreover, focusing on a single source as you do here tends, as always, to carry an implicit apology for capitalism in general, and u.s. capital in particular: that is, the implication _can_ be that all would be well if only this or that evil ruler, corporation, etc. were eliminated.
Capitalism endlessly proliferates an equally endless variety of horrors. They need to be classified, and the major causal forces identified, but let's not quibble over the particular villains in a particular situation.
Carrol