Quote Originally Posted by OfTheTroops View Post
I am only in the early chapters but he uses examples of hushpuppy shoes, syphillis, "white flight" and Yawning and how they infect and spread their "success"? So they did not have to be value positive. It seems a Republic/democracy should spread as easily as Communism or religious fascism. You just have to infect the right people with it. It seems this type of reasoning led to our cautious optimism for establishing beacons of Democracy.
but not so much for going against the flow.

Ideology is like that canoe, that enable one to go with the flow of where the populace naturally wants to go. But to attemp to employ an "ideology canoe" to go against the natural flow of the populace is not so easy.

So the insurgent (or the UW actor) can simply provide conoes. Offer an ideology that is mere promises. The government/counterinsurgent (or the FID actor) must actually perform. Promises must be matched with action.


You see the same effect in politics. (oops, insurgency IS politics) If times are good, bad leaders get re-elected. If times are bad, good leaders often get voted out in favor of a leader who may not be as good, but who offers the people what they want to hear.