Kudos to authors Anneke Campbell and Thomas Linzey for their uplifting book, which examines how local communities can take back their power. The key, according to the authors, is bold self-governance, whereby citizens openly challenge corporate power to assume the reigns themselves. As a community leader, a congressional candidate in California's 36th district, I was most interested in reading about Spokane's campaign to rewrite the city's Home Rule Charter - "to drive legally enforceable rights for neighborhoods, people, and nature directly into the structure of the city government itself." During these challenging economic times, when so much of our taxpayer money is drained to pay for counter-productive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is refreshing to read a book that discusses how cities can address the urgent needs of their citizens to breathe clean air, work in healthy environments, and protect their open space. Towards the end of the book, the authors explore the undermining of constitutional rights by corporations granted private power, as though these business entities are persons, not corporations. Perhaps if enough Americans read "Be the Change," we can turn this notion of corporations as individual private actors around and set our country on a sustainable course. I recommend "Be the Change" for anyone thinking about getting involved in their community.

Well-done!