Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Netroots, meet world

There's bit a great deal of discussion about the netroots concept in terms of a U.S. elections and domestic policy, but are there larger, strategic implications?

I ask this because recently I attend a showing of the documentary "The Devil Came on Horseback" about an observer to the cease fire in Sudan. After the showing of the film, there was a discussion period with the audience and several traditional grassroots organizations. The head of the local chapter of Amnesty International, STAND (Students for Taking Action Now in Darfur), and a few other smaller peace organizations were there.

The discussion, somewhat predictably with an audience of mostly true believers, largely stuck to safe ground: the tragedy of it all, the way the Iraq war has hamstrung the U.S. from perhaps a more constructive role, the fact that the troubles of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton get more attention than the dying in Sudan.

But then an older gentelman stood up and proposed that if the U.S. was too short on troops, perhaps Americans should head over with guns themselves. Surprisingly, this was not greeted with outright derision and indeed, the next speaker not only seconded that motion, but went on to call for action with words to the effect of "If the U.S. government won't do anything, then by golly the American people should raise the money and hire Blackwater and send them ourselves."

And the crowd applauded.

So, I would then ask - while this might seem absurd on the surface - paying someone else to fight a war- is it entirely so? Could a grassroots/netroots campaign build the kind of support where people are willing to pay for such action? Could the people, in effect, take control of foreign policy in some circumstances?

Blackwater, for example has received an estimated $300 billion in contracts since the outset of the Iraq war. Is it inconceivable that a George Soros or other geo-political extraterratorial actor could lead such a charge?

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