Biggest Obstacle

I was talking with my friend Robin about the political landscape in California, and how I planned to meet with an Assembly member from San Diego.

Speaking as someone who's lived there, Robin said, "You'll never be able to get rid of the helmet law in California. It's impossible!"

His rationale was that the incumbents and the dominant party were too well entrenched, and the voting public would keep supporting them. It wouldn't be worth the effort.

I countered by saying that there were always a few vulnerable seats somewhere in the state. California has hundreds of legislators, and inevitably some of them will be in tight races. And many legislative races are wide-open contests, with nobody running for reelection. There will always be opportunities.

"But the real obstacle isn't the politicians," I added. "It's the bikers."

Robin helped me volunteer for a biker-friendly candidate last fall, and we lost that race by just a few dozen votes. We were the only two bikers that worked in that campaign, even though hundreds of local bikers had been encouraged to help. But just two turned up ... me and Robin.

"Imagine how it would have turned out if we had just a half dozen bikers helping our candidate," I said. "We surely would have won that race."

So it isn't the politicians that keep us down. It's really the bikers that won't stand up when it counts - during the campaign season.

-RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com