Achilles' Heel

Have you ever seen the movie called Jason and the Argonauts? One memorable scene in it reminds me of the current fight for bikers rights.

Jason finds a treasure trove that's guarded by a gigantic bronze statue. Though he knows better, he gives in to temptation and steals some jewelry. The statue comes to life and starts stomping the Argonauts like bugs. They try to fight back, but they're outmatched.

Then Jason notices a manhole-sized plug in the statue's heel. As soon as he uncorks the plug, the statue is mortally wounded, and rapidly and crumbles to the ground.

Bikers are fighting against a giant, too. It's the nanny state, and it's guarding the treasure we seek (freedom). But no matter how hard the bikers fight, the giant nanny keeps squashing them like bugs. Fortunately, the nanny state has an Achilles' Heel, too.

Why fight the giant with sticks and stones? A little campaign work in the right place can take down a vulnerable nanny-crat legislator. Do it in a couple of districts, and the giant starts to crumble. Get better at it, and it happens that much faster.

See you on the campaign trail ... and you can keep the treasure.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

Learning Curve

I've learned a lot about politics over the past several years.

Being a freedom-loving biker, I joined my first MRO many years ago. And I put a lot into it, because it takes a lot to keep an MRO going ... virtually all of it through volunteer efforts.

Being a quick study, as well as a hard worker, I learned the ropes. Eventually I served in various capacities, from recording secretary to webmaster, and from Chapter Coordinator to Executive Director.

There were a lot of potholes along the road to freedom, as well as detours and ditches. The harder we worked, the more difficult the road seemed to become. Of course we started getting creative, branching out our activities and issues to appeal to more bikers.

We needed more bikers ... lots more.

Our legislative officer was an odd character, though. He kept telling us we needed to take out our worst legislative opponents during the next election. But we kept on doing protests, fundraisers, and trying to get as many bikers involved as possible.

Finally I agreed to help him work on the campaign trail, along with a few other members of my chapter. And what do you know ... our opponent was defeated AND we helped to elect a biker-friendly candidate in another nearby district. We had one less enemy and one more friend in the legislature.

Not bad for only five bikers.

After several years I had learned how an MRO works from other motorcyclists. But on the campaign trail I started learning how politics works from the candidates. And there is a big difference between the world of motorcycles and the world of politics.

Except for the using the helmet law as leverage, the Repeal Machine Handbook has absolutely nothing to do with motorcycles. You could even take out the words "helmet law repeal," and replace it with any other political issue. It would still operate the same way, because it only produces political results.

That's the reason it's so effective. And probably the reason it's so hard for motorcyclists to understand. It's not about motorcycles at all, but that's because motorcyclists don't necessarily produce political power.

But campaign volunteers sure do.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

Sacramento

My first trip to the California State Legislature was time well spent. Got far more accomplished than I would have expected, and this ain't the first time I've been to a state capitol. Pretty amazing.

When first riding in, it was impressive to see about a thousand bikes parked out in front of the Capitol building ... even though I ended up having to park several blocks away. All those bikes in one spot was a sight to see, in case anyone missed it. I didn't even get a chance to take a picture. By the time I rushed all the way back up to the Capitol building, the rally was just getting underway.

Unfortunately I was running about 5 minutes late for my first appointment, so I went straight inside to meet the freshmen legislators that I'd worked for last year. We usually ended up talking waaaaay longer than we had originally scheduled, so I spent several hours talking to one legislator after another, back to back. Even dropped by to see a couple of them who I didn't even have prior appointments with (but did work for last year).

Every Assembly Member, Senator, and their staffers were generous in giving us so much of their time and attention. They treated us like royalty. I know this was due to the hard work that all the campaign volunteers did for them last year (They said to say "Thank you!"). Also heard a really funny story from two staffers about Denise Ducheney, Abel Maldonado, and the Governator, but I just can't repeat it here. Let's just say there was one cigar, one horse shoe, and a whole lot of "F" words. (See you at the next Local 6 or 11 meeting for the "rest of the story")

Weird thing is, I saw hardly any bikers inside the building as we made the rounds. Of course I saw Sporty wearing off his shoe leather. He's got to be the hardest working and most determined activist in the world, so I didn't want to slow him down (not that I could, even if I tried). During one break in the appointments, I got to sip coffee and have a good chat with Deacon (what a great guy) as well as Ron and Dan, of course. There were about three other MC bikers (who's names and patches I can't remember) that I also saw inside the Capitol during the day, plus our lovely and talented ABATE staff from the state office.

Maybe I just spent so much time with the legislators, I simply missed seeing more bikers in the hallways. But by the time we finished all our meetings, and I went back outside at after 3pm, there was only one single bike left out in front. Everyone had already ridden back home, so I totally missed it! A couple of legislators didn't even know there was a rally outside, and two other people asked us what all the motorcycles were about. But I heard it was a great event, even though I didn't actually get to share in the experience ... this time around, anyway. I'm sure there are stories to tell for years to come.

But all in all, it was really good to see so many new biker-friendly legislators in Sacramento, fighting the good fight. And after the 2012 elections, no doubt there will be even more. I think next year, I'll schedule meetings with legislators on a different day than the rally, so I can get the best of both worlds.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

PS: Be sure to send "thank you" notes to the legislators you met with.

Ratchet

The bikers rights movement has been going in circles for decades. Every year it's the same cycle, over and over.

It starts moving with getting enough bikers to agree on what a repeal bill should contain. Age, experience, training, and insurance are the standard issues to debate.

Of course they never call it "repeal," instead opting for words like "reform" or modification." It's as if they're afraid to say repeal, or perhaps they're trying to trick legislators into thinking it's something else.

Once a repeal bill gets submitted, out go the "calls to action." That will generate surge of emails from keyboard commandos. And not surprisingly, they don't change anyone's mind.

Finally, it comes down the committee hearing. Bikers will pack the hearing room, just like last year. And the bill doesn't pass, just like last year. So the bikers helplessly watch all their hard work go down the tubes.

Again.

Then it's back to the drawing board, and they will try to figure out how to get better at doing what doesn't work. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The irony is that it doesn't have to be this way, working up as much energy as possible, only to see it all fall on deaf ears, year after year.

Campaign work is totally different. It isn't like a wheel, spinning in circles. It's more like a ratchet, steadily moving forward but never retreating.

Every election cycle, we pick up another couple of biker-friendly legislators. And once they're elected, they stay there for a long time.

Click.

Every legislative session, we get a vote count on the latest repeal bill. Then we know which legislators to knock out of office during the next election.

Click.

With each new election, and each new session, we get closer and closer to our objective, which is a biker-friendly majority. There is no "back to the drawing board" about it. The gains we make are gains we keep.

If this sounds good to you, take a look at the Repeal Machine Handbook. Everything you need to do is in there, step-by-step.

Click.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

Hobby Lobby

Someone recently took a look at the Repeal Machine Handbook
and said, "You could use this for any political issue, not just the helmet law."

That's an astute observation, since I am already in the process of using it on other political fronts.

The reason is that politics has NOTHING to do with motorcycles, and EVERYTHING to do with influencing legislators. Pick an item, whether it's a popular topic like abortion or guns, or a niche issue like flying model aircraft or painting bicycle lanes.

The problem with most "political interest" organizations is that they push their interest out in front of their politics. In other words, they spend more time being "hobbyist lobbyists" instead of political activists.

When they talk to legislators, they don't have a compelling argument. A logical argument, yes. But what makes sense to a hobbyist will fall on deaf ears to a legislator who just isn't that into that hobby.

However, I guarantee that legislator is VERY into getting reelected. So the trick is to make a connection between your political issue and their winning elections. That's what the Repeal Machine Handbook does.

And that's why it works.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

Simple Question

The question isn't whether a helmet is good for you. It's whether you want to be forced to wear one.

(If you like the motorcycle helmet law, do nothing.)

But if you are done debating the issue, and would rather get rid of it, use the Repeal Machine Handbook. Simple steps, unbeatable results.

Click here and decide for yourself: RepealMachine.com/handbook/

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

New Helmet Law

Actually, it's a new helmet law regulation. Adding to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218 (FMVSS-218), it further cracks down on the wearing of novelty helmets. You know them as biker beanies, skid lids, or anti-ticket hats.

Katie, bar the door!

I'm sure a bunch of emails are flying around the on-line biker community. And so the standard response (yawn) will be calls to "action" to write your [fill in the blank] immediately. But the barn door was opened years ago, and the cows are long gone.

Bad legislation comes from bad legislators.

The same thing applies to the byproduct of bad legislation, which is regulation and enforcement of helmet laws. So the key is to nip oppressive regulation in the bud, before they turn into final rulings like FMVSS-218.

Consider this: About 10 years ago, an unknown community organizer was the only nominee for an unchallenged state senate seat ... by virtue of 237 petition signatures.

And now, he's President of the United States.

Fun Fact: About 75% of governors, Federal appointees (regulators), and congressmen started out as state legislators. And many of them won their first elections by a handful of votes.

Holler about laws and regulation, and nothing will change. We're too far downstream, and we have no leverage. It's a done deal.

But start at the headwaters of the state legislature, and the problem goes away. If bikers had gotten started about 10 years ago, we wouldn't even have FMVSS-218 now.

Nip them in the bud, bros.

Use the Repeal Machine Handbook (RepealMachine.com/handbook/).

See you on the campaign trail.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

Oregon Trail

I just got back home from Oregon, where they recently held their annual May Awareness Rally. Despite the predicted bad weather, it turned out to be a good day for riding.

The best part of the trip was meeting with the folks from BikePAC and from the Hub City chapter of ABATE of Oregon. You'd expect them to be kind of down after having their latest repeal bill die in committee, but it wasn't like that at all.

Instead, they were a whole lot wiser from the experience. Some of the best lessons in life are also the hardest, and they are certainly stronger after what they went through.

More importantly, they are also all the wiser. So after the rally we all put our heads together, taking it all in from one end to the other. And the path they have chosen is clear. It's time to break out of the cycle.

Most MROs do the same thing over and over. Work their tails off all year long, only to find themselves right where they started from. So they try harder the next year, and end up back at square one.

Bikers in Oregon are different. With all that rain, you know they're persistent. But they also know how to adapt. And that's exactly what they're doing.

It was good timing that I finished writing the Repeal Machine Handbook in time for my trip up to the Beaver State. And once they took a look at it, they understood that it was the most direct path to repealing the helmet law, once and for all.

The good news is that you don't have to be from Oregon to get on the path to freedom. Anyone can use the Repeal Machine Handbook. And by using it, you will find your self hot on the trail that leads to freedom.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

PS: Special thanks to Don and Al, Nic and Mel, all the Hub City members for their hospitality, and especially to the girls up there who know how to get things done.

Repeal Handbook

Now there's an easy step-by-step guide to repealing the helmet law. It's called the Repeal Machine Handbook, and it presents a set of tasks that lead straight to repeal.

The handbook has four categories, with tasks ranging from the simple to the challenging. But the great thing about it is that you don't need to do everything to get the results you want. Any single task is enough.

The handbook's website address is RepealMachine.com/handbook/. Take it for a test ride and let me know what you think.

I think you'll like it.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com