Layers

My never ending quest for "my fair share of abuse" led me to a meeting put together by the Higher Ground Foundation on Wed. night. One of the biggest issues dividing our local community is land use planning ,with those wishing for planned growth through zoning squared off against those who feel their property rights (and much, much more) threatened. This fight has been raging in various forms for twenty years and I went to the meeting to check in on the state of the opposition. (I'm in favor of a Growth Plan, these folks are vehemently opposed) As an amatuer socioligist I find this valley a fascinating laboratory. It is called "higher ground" because the wealthy funder knowingly (in defiance of regulations) built his house in the flood plain and was forced to move it.

The gal doing the actual presentation was obviously uncomfortable speaking in front of crowds. Her hands were shaking so bad she could not hold and read the papers. She had tried to organize her materials and her thoughts but her argument was so convoluted and incoherent that she soon lost track of her thread (the Plan had grown too big and complex, process was not fair, elite forces had too much power) and fell back on what is, after all, the core issue : the rate of change is outstripping their ability to comprehend all it's ramifications.

It is really a microcosm of the planet at large with environmental damage affecting the economy (mills shut down due to over-harvest, degradation, markets), cultural wars raging, ( ranchers , loggers vs newcomers, progressives), religious and political extremism (Assembly of God, Mormons and militia-types) and a steady influx of retirees, nouveau-riche and attendent service workers driving up land places, sending ugly sprawl along highway corridors and generally "changing everything".

She put down the papers and her notes and told the assembled that what was at stake was nothing less than Our Freedom and The American Way of Life. Property rights were sacred as was the capitalist system they upheld. Zoning was an attack on the Constitution. Open space requirements, stream set-back regulations, urban clusters, restrictions on Big Box store development, in sum all imposed limits, were "takings", encroachment by the government on individual liberty and free enterprise. This led to a discussion on the U.N. and it's agenda for a New World Order. It could have led to the Illuminati but we ran out of time and adjourned. Welcome to my world.