Starting from Scratch

Now that I'm a new resident of sunny Southern California, it's time for me to get busy helping to get rid of the universal helmet law. I want to ride the Pacific Coast Highway with my wife, and I sure can’t steal a kiss from her while there’s a bucket on my head!

Fortunately, there has already been a lot of work accomplished here. ABATE of California (www.abate.org) has been fighting the helmet law for quite a while, and they've made an impressive amount of progress in this direction.

I joined ABATE of CA the first day I got here, by the way. You should join your State Motorcycle Rights Organization, too. Even if you don't participate, at least you'll be informed about what's going on. And even then, you can always get off your ass when the mood strikes you. ;)

Now RIDE2REPEAL.COM is all about beating the helmet law by the most effective and the most efficient way possible. There is no wasted effort, and there are as few moving parts as possible in our "machine." It all boils down to political power. But you gotta start somewhere, and that's what this article is about:

Starting from Scratch.

Starting locally, my first step is to get to know my state legislators. Fortunately, thanks to the Internet, that's very easy to do. When I plug my zip code into the box at the Project Vote Smart website (www.votesmart.org), I get a list of every single one of my elected officials between President Obama and the Town Dog Catcher.

Now the most important elected officials (to us bikers) are our state legislators. They are the only ones that pass or repeal helmet laws. They are also the elected officials that we have the greatest ability to help win (or make lose) an election. That's because we can concentrate a whole state full of bikers -- as campaign volunteers -- into just a few legislative districts.

Sure, the other levels of government are important, too. By all means, get involved in those campaigns if you want. But keep in mind that at the Federal level, most of those bozos used to be ... you guessed it ... state legislators! So if you clean house at the state capital now, the legislative gene pool will eventually wash most of the nanny-crats right out of Washington. Though it may take 10 years or so, that problem will inevitably take care of itself.

But back to the state legislators. If you scroll down your list at Project Vote Smart, you find your State Senator and State Assembly Member (or in some states, State Delegate or State Representative). Scroll down a little further, and you also find the CANDIDATES who are running for the State Senate and State Assembly.

How cool is that?

The next step is how to contact them, which is probably easier than you think. But I'll save that for another article. For now, go to Project Vote Smart and find your legislator. And since it’s the campaign season is just around the corner, make note of who will be running against them this year.

When it comes to progress, there is nothing more important than taking the first step.


-RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com