_hit flows one way -- DOWNHILL! If one stands downhill of the above post by JB, then one could well need some shoveling out of the flowage.

While local activity certainly helps, I have been involved with local shows / demonstrations / and local media publication/presentations for some 40 years. These events are like footprints made in the sand on the beach next to the water. The next wave rolls in and they are gone.

In the realm of the real world, one needs to start at the top and watch the momentum gather as the ball rolls downhill. Certainly you have seen the Sep. '03 issue of RCM. NATIONAL recognition of NATIONAL MEDIA leaves solid implants in people's minds.

Any organization that has a point/idea requiring public attention does everything in its power to sell the public on that point/idea. After all just what is advertising? Advertisers go after immediate attention by bombarding you with reasons for you to buy their products. In the case of education about ideas, then an organization must simply hammer away at the minds of people just to get attention to that organization's point/idea. This takes more time, however it works.

Due to the time elements, the longer that AMA delays in establishing a course change to NATIONAL recognition of aeromodeling as a worthwhile SPORT and/or recreational hobby, the more danger there is in the potential loss of more and more facilities for the sport. Just yesterday, I received a letter from a significant person in one of the Special Interest Groups that stated that SIG lost 400 members this year from last year. Flying Site loss could well have contributed to that member loss.

Any one that watches the social changes within this society can easily tell that national media definitely sets the politically-correct moods within the populace which become custom over the years.
The media still honors the sports.

Just to scratch the surface: AMA assures our International (FAI) Competition Teams come home with the Drum-Rolls in the national networks. Aeromodeling becomes like the Olympics. With some time, the Nationals, Top Gun, and other great events reach a note worth mentioning on national media. The recent flight across the Atlantic received a mention in the Wall Street Journal. Much, much more can be mentioned. Moods can be set.

To cut the story short, local politicians will hear NATIONAL media and they well know that their voters also hear NATIONAL media. Local politicians are much more prone to be swayed by those solid implants than those "local kids with their toys". Never forget that local politicians are always watching "up" to the top looking for the federal grants. When they see just what is becoming more and more fashionable, they are quick to join that bandwagon.

Therefore, Gentlemen, there is a world out beyond the ends of your arms. AMA needs people with a vision, ones that see beyond the horizon. There must be more than simply a dozen or so people standing around patting each other's backside.

The AMA EC needs individuals that say, "There is work to do." Then, when that work is done, the individual says, "Now it's really time to get off center, roll up the sleeves and get a move on."

If you want Flying Sites, less rules, more recognition, then you too have work to do and that is to VOTE. You only have one choice of an individual with the vision, the experience and the initiative to initiate what needs to be done. The secret to getting that work done is through informing the membership of what is really happening.

The ball is in your court.