I haven't looked into Blockstack very much, but from a brief look at their website and some videos it seems like they are trying to build a "second internet". Substratum isn't building a seperate thing, thye are building right at the protocol level of the current infrastructure. The Substratum network will work with the current internet. Blockstack will require their browser to run, but Substratum will only require you to install software if you want to access content not hosted on the Substratum network, through the Substratum Network. Otherwise you can use you current internet software to access any content hosted on the Substratum network.

As not an American citizen I would agree the I kind of hope it goes through as well. It will really bring attention about the issue of internet censorship around the world to America and the West, even if it's a pretty shitty way to get the point across.