BOTTOM UP CHANGE / A SONOMA VALLEY EXAMPLE

Four years ago the leveroni winery in Sonoma Valley, California halted an ambitious hospital board, who wanted to build an expensive new hospital as well as exercise Eminent Domain on their property, by enlisting engaged community members, including myself, who proved that bottom up change can indeed happen: Allen L Roland

Every time I drive by the vast pristine Leveroni pasture on 5th Street West, I smile to myself ~ for if a small group of enraged vineyard owners, citizens and environmental activists had not teamed together to stop an environmental injustice ~ a half built 148 million dollar white elephant hospital would be sitting in the middle of this verdant pasture as a constant reminder of arrogance and misplaced priorities.

Pat Stornetta and Joe Leveroni, a sister-brother team, are winegrowers on the 570-acre Home Ranch with its 250 acres of vineyard and the family’s dairy of 500 milking cows. They continue a four-generation tradition of farming and conservation that has preserved this historic site since 1886. Their Estate grown award winning wines include an exceptional Merlot, exquisite Pinor Noir, a lush Chardonnay and a crisp and fruity sauvignon Blanc.

I'll never forget the morning I stood with a small group of Sonoma Valley grape growers, farmers and residents as Joe Leveroni stood on a small stage, in a local mobile home park, and shared how unfair it was for the hospital to attempt to take away his precious land through eminent domain ( Yes on Measure C ).

I was moved to action as I raised my hand and said ~ Joe, you are the face of the No on Measure C campaign and we support you 100%.

And support him we did ~ to the extent that within two months the Yes on Measure C campaign collapsed through public pressure and a costly and unneccessary misadventure was avoided.

The dagger in the heart of Sonoma Valley's controversal Measure C $148 million million bond issue was not just the unfair annexing through Eminent Domain of the Leveroni property ~ it was the NO recommendation to the voters of the district by the Sonoma County Taxpayers' Association ~ who thoroughly reviewed both sides of the measure and found the measure was not only unjustified but that its costs were misleading.

It made me realize that the bottom-up power of the people ~ once they know the truth ~ can be an awesome force where all pretense and hypocrisy can be quickly swept away and replaced with honesty and integrity.

That's why my column is dedicated to the truth and especially the truth regarding the abuses of power by the Cheney/Bush administration, the 9/11 cover up and the continued shocking revelations regarding our illegal wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not only did that bottom up local fight against injustice bond me with my community but it set the stage to tackle greater injustices throughout the world ~ and in particular, the United States.

It was Robert Kennedy who said ~ " Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope ~ and, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

That's bottom up change ~ and it starts locally.

Allen L Roland
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/bottom-up-change-sonoma-valley-example.html

This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476 Also accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover .

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY

Obama Still Campaigning Versus Leading

OBAMA STILL CAMPAIGNING VERSUS LEADING

The true test of a persons character is not how they handle adversity but how do they handle power. In that respect President Obama has failed ~ for the articulate candidate of action and change, that many of us voted for, has become the consummate Washington political insider who is still in campaign mode and has lost both his base and credibility in the process: Allen L Roland

It's almost every day that I see President Obama on TV whether I'm in my health club or passing through a restaurant and I always internally ask the same question ~ why is he still campaigning and why isn't he leading?

Then I realized that his trusted inner Chicago circle of advisors are all members of his original campaign team and they are obviously still in campaign mode but this time it's the mid term elections ~ Jobs and the economy be dammed !

Every decision now, particularly after the Massachusetts Democratic debacle, is a political decision aimed toward righting the badly listing Obama ship of state and not rocking the boat with a mid-term election in the fall.

Meanwhile Obama is trying to position himself as the Outsider in Chief in order to regain the support of his disillusioned progressive and rapidly vanishing Independent base. Eugene Robinson,Truthout, defined that term perfectly ~ "President Obama's first State of the Union address didn't signal a political shift to the left or the right. It sounded more like a shrewd attempt to move from the inside to the outside ~ to position himself alongside disaffected voters, peering through the windows of the den of iniquity called Washington and reacting with dismay at the depravity within."

It's almost like a detached G.W.Bush looking out of the window of Air force One as it passed over the the chaos of New Orleans ~ a few days after hurricane Katrina ~ instead this time it's President Obama unsuccessfully trying to move outside his role as the consummate Washington insider and main street America is not buying it.

Steve Clemons, Huffington Post, rightfully lays the blame for Obama's sinking popularity on the fact that he would rather campaign than lead ~ " Pundits, Democratic lawmakers and opinion pollsters offer a smorgasbord of reasons ~ from Mr Obama's decision to devote his first year in office to healthcare reform, to the president's inability to convince voters he can "feel their [economic] pain", to the apparent ungovernability of today's Washington. All may indeed have contributed to the quandary in which Mr Obama finds himself. But those around him have a more specific diagnosis ~ and one that is striking in its uniformity. The Obama White House is geared for campaigning rather than governing, they say. " http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/core-chicago-team-sinking_b_452664.html

Obama must learn that there is no true change without action and action always involves risk. Bill Maher compares Obama to Lindsay Lohan: " We see your name in the paper a lot, but we're kind of wondering when you're actually going to do something."

Allen L Roland http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com

This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is also available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY