  Bulk energization of electrons to $10\,-\,20\,$keV in solar flares is
attributed to dissipation of Alfv\'en waves that transport energy and potential
downward to an acceleration region near the chromosphere. The acceleration
involves the parallel electric field that develops in the limit of inertial
Alfv\'en waves (IAWs). A two-potential model for IAWs is used to relate the
parallel potential to the cross-field potential transported by the waves. We
identify a maximum parallel potential in terms of a maximum current density
that corresponds to the threshold for the onset of anomalous resistivity. This
maximum is of order $10\,$kV when the threshold is that for the Buneman
instability. We argue that this restricts the cross-field potential in an
Alfv\'en wave to about $10\,$kV. Effective dissipation requires a large number
of up- and down-current paths associated with multiple Alfv\'en waves. The
electron acceleration occurs in localized, transient, anomalously-conducting
regions (LTACRs) and is associated with the parallel electric field determined
by Ohm's law with an anomalous resistivity. We introduce an idealized model in
which the LTACRs are (upward-)current sheets, a few skin depths in thickness,
separated by much-larger regions of weaker return current. We show that this
model can account semi-quantitatively for bulk energization.
