But just like any other battle, there's more to it than just the size of your army. Just look at the Spartans under King Leonidas, way back around 480 BC. They were a force of 300 warriors who held off a Persian army of over one million at the Battle of Thermopylae. What the Spartans lacked in numbers, they more than made up for in strategy and tactics.Going for the maximum number of bikers is the traditional approach. That's why SMROs use a variety of methods to recruit more members. Though helmet laws are the original reason that SMROs came into being, since then they've broadened the battle front ... considerably. Now it includes anything and everything that affects bikers. The idea is to appeal to the greatest number of bikers by giving them more reasons to get involved. This collection of issues is what we now know as "bikers rights."
King Leonidas fought his battle in a narrow pass, where only a tiny fraction of the opposing force could attack his Spartans at any one time. That gave him a strategic advantage. This follows the principle called "force concentration." In other words, you focus as much of your strength as possible in one place ... ideally the place where your enemy is weakest.We all know what happens when you fight a war on too many fronts. You get spread too thin. There's no concentration of force. Instead your strength is diluted. If you widen your battlefront far enough, your army might as well not even exist. And good luck recruiting, because you won't have much to show them. Who wants to join a losing team? That's the situation we face in the bikers rights movement.
Instead of picking our fights, they have been picking us. That puts us at a strategic disadvantage, because our opponents can now call the shots. It's far better to ignore the fights that don't move us forward, and to never start fights that we can't possibly win. Only then can we put all of our energy into the fights that DO matter ... the ones we CAN and MUST win. That's a wise strategy, taken straight from the pages of the Art of War by Sun Tzu.And by the way, it's not like SMROs have too many members. There are a few exceptions, like ABATE of Indiana and ABATE of Pennsylvania, with several thousand members who are well-organized. That's why they don't have helmet laws in their states, and their SMROs will keep it that way.
Instead let's consider SMROs in states that still have helmet laws. Of what few members they have, most of them exist only on paper. And of those that are active members, their energy is scattered in many directions. They maintain a defensive posture, afraid of losing what little ground they have. In the worst cases, appeasement becomes second nature.
If the strategy of SMROs is "strength in numbers," most of them are actually losing ground. Everyday bikers are attracted to more focused, vibrant, and growing organizations, like Harley Owners Group (HOG) and Rolling Thunder. Their ranks are swelling, and they are doing a better job of providing social and fraternal benefits. It's their core mission, after all.
A volunteer organization relies on people to achieve its goals. They are the human resources of the organization. And like any other resource, they can be squandered. So another winning strategy is to make the best use of their time and effort. If bikers rights is the core mission of an organization, then every activity should lead toward that goal. And the more direct the path, the better.The strategy of RIDE2REPEAL.COM is to ...
> Fight only the decisive battle that brings total victory
> Concentrate our energy where our opponents are weak
> Use the most effective tactics to quickly achieve our goals
Yes, size matters. And while it will always be good to have more bikers involved on the front lines, it takes more than just numbers. Strategy and tactics make all the difference.
To learn more about our step-by-step program to restore our rights, click on the green How It Works tab at RIDE2REPEAL.COM.
- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com
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