Rioting via the keyboard - is it enough? "Al Qaeda Resurgent"

I've been mulling Morra Aarons-Mele's passionate response to the NYT editorial, Al Qaeda Resurgent, all morning. She's really hit me in the solar plexus. In Why Aren't We Rioting in the Streets? Aarons-Mele begins:

"I want the country to go on strike. I want the Congress to stage a sit in...I am just one woman, angry about this war and I feel powerless because I don't know what to do to help stop it."

Here's where I find myself: I'm terribly disappointed at the slow pace of change, and missed opportunities for global statesmanship. While many days I feel like taking to the street corners with a handpainted sign about any number of issues, I feel like I have bigger change of effecting long-term change every time I put my head under the hood at BlogHer.org and BlogHerAds.com.

Nothing is more important to me right now than publishing new voices from throughout the political spectrum that articulate a reality check to the powers that be. I think blogging equals participation, and participation of any kind leads to action at the ballot box, and to real change.

A couple weeks ago, I heard some confirmation from outside the blogosphere that this approach is working. I was in Miami, speaking on the power of community at the WeMedia conference. The highlight of the conference for me