Step Up steps up!


It was an interesting day today!



And I will tell you a little part of it if you are interested…



I had pledged to go down to the beach and participate in a call for Alternative Energy; in this case wind power.



I had been active in the beginning of our efforts to get people in Delaware to accept the first off-shore wind farm in the nation.



We met with the experts; then we met with the politicians.



We had meetings, church groups, gatherings, etc. with esteemed guests and experts on alternative energy to speak . We had films on alternative energy and also met with legislators and those who could influence change.



The effort developed legs and was expanded again and again throughout the state; but while we were successful with the people, the powerful Coal and Gas lobbies worked their sleight of hand behind the scenes influenced the politicians not to support us and to speak out against what they claimed were new and unproven technologies..



So, when our major contractor had a small problem with his subcontractor, it turned out that that was the reason the opposition was looking for to raise issues and questions and promulgate doubts about wind energy as a responsible source of fuel.



In all of this, the scientific estimates had been understated to prevent the government with taking issues with our data. Plus, we were using proven technology from proven sources.



This morning, I joined in with others supporting alternative energy to gather down at the beach through a national consciousness raising program called Step Up. Little did we know that a Nor’easter would be blowing and the winds had to be sixty miles an hour pushing crested waves to over eight feet high. Maybe it was God's way of throwing support to alternative energy. Anyway, it worked!



Nevertheless, we had a good turn out and it was enthusiastic.



During the process, I got to speak to many people and signed many petitions.



But one man, certainly my peer, and I got really into it.



He told me that he was conducting his own crusade against fossil fuels and many other programs of government that were for a very slim minority.



After about a half hour of discussion, he told me that not only had he been the president of the Republican Party in Delaware but he had been our sole representative to Congress for a number of years.



Now, he said he was an environmentalist who was dead set against the people in government who were trying to ruin our country.



It reminded me that we cannot put labels on people.



One of the programs he is supporting from his new home in Florida is against the government funding the repair of the East Coast shore line from erosion and storms.



Most of the people qualifying for protection own MacMansions along the shore and should not qualify for government assistance that comes from the bulk of the population—the middle class.



He said that his efforts have resulted in death threats!





It was a very edifying conversation and it seems that he, a Republican and former congressman, and, me, an unrepentant liberal who is as angry with democrats as he is with Republicans, may actually come together into some kind of new alliance to see what we can do to bring people together in common cause whether they are democrats, republicans, liberals, progressives, independents, greens, conservatives, or libertarians.



It is my hope.



One step at a time.



Les Aaron

The Committee for Positive Growth


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Les Aaron
The Committee for Positive Change LAAGroup@aol.com