Assembly Line

The state legislature is a lot like a factory. Legislators go in at one end, and legislation comes out at the other. How the laws are made doesn't matter as much as what the laws are made out of. Good legislation depends good legislators.

If you start with high-quality raw materials, you're more likely to get a good product. Nobody's perfect, of course. But without good legislators to begin with, the odds of getting good laws are extremely remote. Like they say, "garbage in, garbage out."

Forget about trying to turn bad legislators into good ones. Even if you talk until you're blue in the face, it won't make one bit of difference. That's because a leopard won't change his spots any sooner than a nanny-crat will respect your rights. It's possible ... but highly unlikely. Better to start with someone who's got a good reason to listen to you.

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to find good legislators ... as long as you know where to look. The campaign trail is where they come from, although you'll have to shop around to find the best candidates. If they are biker-friendly, and they have a good chance of winning, you found a keeper. Then all you have to do is join their campaign team and help them win.

Once you help a candidate win their first race, you have a friend for life. After all, you are the reason they got elected in the first place. And that's why they will listen to you -- especially when there's important legislation being considered -- because you earned their trust on the campaign trail.

So if you want good legislation to come out of the state capitol, make sure you put good legislators in there to begin with. Then you'll be happy with the laws coming out of the legislative assembly line, because they're made from the best stuff on earth: good legislators.

Foundation

If you want to build a really nice house, start with a really solid foundation.

You can't start by framing the walls, installing ductwork, wiring the outlets, or tiling the roof. You'd have nothing to build upon. Even worse, you'd be getting in the way of people who are trying to lay the foundation in the first place.

Same goes for our rights as motorcyclists. START by getting people elected to the legislature who will carry the load. Once they're in place, we'll have a solid and reliable foundation. Only then can we "install" the things that will make life free and easy for us all.

Unfortunately (sigh) the standard approach for biker activists is to start at the top ... trying to change the legislation (rather than change the legislators). There's also the court of public opinion, which is nice to have (like a roof deck) but not really necessary. Then throw in a party or two, and we can bitch about the sorry state of affairs we find ourselves in.

For some reason, very few biker activists understand this simple concept. And ironically, the majority of the "movement" is so fixated on finishing the job that they miss one little fact: There's too little foundation for them to build upon.

We can't change everyone's mind. Some people just aren't that deep. But there are some of us with enough common sense to start at the beginning ... on the campaign trail. We can leave the window dressing for everyone else.

CALM Down

Bad legislation comes from bad legislators. Bikers can get lucky and dodge one bullet, only to find ourselves getting nicked by another. But there are a lot of legislators who are gunning for us. Right now they have an unlimited supply of ammunition, and we are riding around with bulls-eyes on our backs.

Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles (CALM) can easily kick our butts as long as we fight them on their terms, using their weapons, where they have the home-field advantage. Their message resonates with the non-riding public, just like our bikes resonate with their car alarms. And as long as bikers keep chasing after CALM in a public debate, we'll be as irrelevant as a dog chasing a car ... and just as likely to get run over.

Legislators need a solid reason to be on our side. And I'm not talking about reasons that make sense to us as bikers. The reason has to be a matter of political self-preservation. Make a connection between our rights and their elections, and they'll have that reason ... because it will be in their best interest to be on our side of every issue.

When legislators see bikers on the campaign trail, as capable and reliable volunteers, we will have turned the tables. Our opponents will then be the ones who are bitching and moaning about how they're being ignored, despite how good they are at making noise.

There's no way we can win every race, of course. Most incumbents are untouchable, and most districts are owned by one party or the other. But there will always be open seats and vulnerable districts. During the primary elections, we can easily win a few close races.

There's no debating it.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

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