An Anniversary Coming Up

Sandra reminded me that we are coming up to the tenth anniversary of when I and a band of brothers took up Gore's cause in a very serious way along with many others
up and down the coast and across the country. Mike Rectanwald, Mike Hersh, Lois Frankel, Bob Fertig, Bev Conover and many others.

At that time, I am not even sure Gore had made his commitment but he was our choice.

We didn't want the prospect of Bush & Company to turn us into mental steerage for another four or eight years.

And so we decided to make the commitment up front: It would be Al Gore, our nominee come hell or high water.

It is hard to imagine that so much time has passed by yet it may constitute a yardstick for many of us to measure our progress or lack of it for progressive causes.

The driving force at that time was an activist lawyer named Lou posner.

We had come together over the Internet in the period leading up to 1999.

Prior to that time, I was writing editorials for various websites, such as Radio Left and others. And somehow we got together via the Net.

I don't remember anyone blogging in those days!

We used to gather one way or another in New York City to promulgate Al Gore's candidacy.

In those days, the Freepers gave us a hard time whenever we gathered.

And Giuliani tried his best to dismiss us whenever he could.

But we would prevail.

We had our picketing, our chanting, our marches all over Manhattan.

I remember our first gathering on Broadway and 42nd Street.

We had trouble bringing together 17 liberals for Gore.

Of course, as the campaign wore on and Gore get into it, our numbers began to surge.

Our second meeting was about three times as big.

In the Spring, the voices of the Unions had joined with us.


And celebrities were starting to come on board.

That was a long time ago.

There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then.

Before 9/11, I had gone to work for Aaron Cohen and his wonderful journal, Democracy Chronicle.

I covered the tragedy of 9/11 for the journal at the time writing several stories.

It was the end of Democracy Chronicle. At that point, everybody got behind the president to put an end to 'terrorism.'

I continued to write and protest. i joined several grass roots groups.

Later on, I became Howard Dean's man in the field.

I organized and ran everything in one third of Delaware's districts.

I handled the fund-raising, getting the message out, building support, and everything else.

I worked for Dean for nearly a year.

When he faded, I became a consultant to Kerry's campaign and later was

appointed Regional Veteran Adviser for the campaign. The Progressive Democrats made me their County Chair. I was made delegate to the State Conventin.


Later on, I switched to Wes Clark support, became a grass roots activist and helped

fdour candidates locally, a state representative and Biden's son successfully run for office.

I also got involved in alternative energy power sources and environmental issues.

I started the Power of One and the Committee for Positive Change.

I completed Final Warning, about Global Warming, and A Blueprint for Winning, a campaign approach to winning in 2008.

Now, I am working for a democratic winner in November.

Here's my dream:

I was thinking how great it would be for all Liberals who have been there and done that to join together in a spiritual bond of strength this New Years and commit to a prayer for a more just and equitable world and promise to work to do our best to uphold the spirit of positive change.

My wishes don't end there:

I would also love to have all of us get together in some giant convention center to share our stories and our love for each other at least once to commemorate our hard work, our commitment and the wonderful friendships and relationships we have formed.

What a time that would be.

We can dream can't we.




Les Aaron.