Oregon Rally: May 7

ABATE of Oregon and BikePAC of Oregon will host their annual May Awareness rally on May 7. I have the honor of speaking at this exciting event, and look forward to being in the company of such fine activists.

Here is the flyer for the rally, which will be held on the steps of the capitol. The bike show starts at 10:00, and the rally will follow starting at 11:00.

I strongly encourage activists from near and far to attend. You won't be disappointed!

Path or Goal?

What do motorcycles have to do with political power?

It's an easy enough question. Most bikers rights activists would probably say EVERYTHING! That's why we have poker runs, protests, parties, and the venerable SMRO to pull it all together.

That's also why we strive to get better at it. And to accomplish this, we recruit more people, seek better participation, and provide more motorcycle-oriented activities to restore our rights. It would only make sense for us to work harder at going in the same direction we've been going all along.

But wait a minute, and think about it...

If motorcycling was genuinely the path to political power, then why are WE the only ones going in this direction? And why have we been losing ground, year after year, helplessly watching our rights get attacked and eroded with each new legislative session? And why have some of our most motivated and dedicated activists thrown in the towel, never to return?

The truth is that we rely on becoming better bikers because that's what comes naturally to us as bikers. We like motorcycling activities, so that's what we do. In other words, we automatically think that with a Better Bikers Bureau, we'll get what we want from our legislature.

This is far from the truth.

The logic behind this is that we LOVE motorcycling. And if we can somehow convince more people (like our legislators and their constituents) to love motorcycling too, we will somehow prevail in the political arena. But if motorcycling was really the path to political power, then everyone seeking political power would simply become a biker.

The truth is that bikers need to become politically powerful first. Not by getting better at motorcycling activities, but by getting better at political activities. And political activities have NOTHING to do with motorcycles.

So ...

Instead of trying to change your legislator's mind on bikers rights, find a candidate who supports bikers rights and change the legislator. There is no way a nanny-crat will ever defend our rights. But there will always be a few close races, and it is up to us to find them ... and then to take down our most vulnerable opponents.

Instead of recruiting as many motorcyclists as possible to do everything imaginable, recruit the right kind of motorcyclists, and then focus on what gets the most results. So rather than beating the bushes to motivate apathetic bikers, rely on the self-motivated activists that we already have (that's us) to restore our rights.

Instead of asking your legislative candidates to come to your meeting, ride with your fellow motorcyclists to their meetings. And then volunteer. Once bikers become a reliable part of the political machine, only then will it make sense for candidates to come to us ... when they believe we can help them win.

Bikers rights is the goal we seek, but motorcycling is not the path to get there. Only political power can deliver everything we want, so building political power is what our first and foremost activity must be.

The Repeal Machine connects biker activists with biker-friendly candidates. Nothing more, and nothing less. So if you want to restore your rights, don't expect your motorcycle to get you there. Instead, take a ride on the Repeal Machine.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

Call the Shots

Many states are considering bills to repeal the mandatory helmet law to restore an adult's right to decide.

Running their normal course, the first stop for these bills is the Transportation Committee. So bikers rights activists are sending emails to committee members. So far, so good.

And as always, some comittee members will vote against passage, and they will do so because they have nothing to fear. But thanks to many of our Alert Subscribers and other bikers rights activists, that is changing.

Why?

Because these forward-thinking bikers are also veterans from the front lines of the political battlefield, which is the campaign trail. When we do our part there, where it counts, our letters to committee members become friendly reminders that we are more than just talk.

The day will soon come when a few of the most vulnerable nanny-crats will try to squeak through the spring primary elections. That is a sure thing, as sure as the sun will rise. And we need to be right there, waiting for them in a small handful of districts, with sleeves rolled up, helping their biker-friendly opponents carry the day.

Once we have a couple of notches under out belts, and we can rightly claim to be the deciding factor in who wins these primary elections, we will have political power. And even those legislators who would normally oppose us will nonetheless respect our power, and think twice before casting their fateful votes.

With political power, we call the shots. But without it, we can only plead to deaf ears.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

Moving Mountains

Repealing the motorcycle helmet law is like trying to dig a tunnel through a mountain. We know that once built, the road will be smooth and easy.

But that's a big mountain.

So far we've had limited success, digging with our hands and whatever else we can get a hold of. Shovels, pick axes, pry bars ... and a whole lot of blood, sweat, and tears. If only we had more helping hands.

That's why we spend a lot of time and effort looking for more people. Skills and aptitude don't matter, as long as we can increase our numbers. And it doesn't matter whether you actually dig, since we need more recruiters, safety inspectors, team supervisors, eloquent preachers, trash collectors, and even a dog catcher.

So to keep the operation going, we created a whole mining town, complete with a Board of Directors to keep everything under control. But running the town takes a lot of time and money, too. In fact, we need more resources for running the mining town itself than we do for actually digging.

The current state of bikers rights is that we spend more time on the mining town than we do at actually digging that tunnel. There's got to be a better way.

Fortunately, there is.

We now have a powerful tool at our disposal, called the Repeal Machine. So instead of digging with our hands, dealing with constant cave-ins, and getting sucked into the drama of life in a mining town, we can quickly drill a clean, wide hole straight through to the other side. Best of all, we can complete the job with the people we already have.

If you're like me, you're tired of digging ... and ready to ride.

-Ride2Repeal@gmail.com

What Price Freedom?

How much attention to you "pay" to freedom? Or more specifically, what are you doing about it? This is a reasonable question to ask if we, as motorcyclists, hope to restore our right to decide when -- and when not -- to wear a motorcycle helmet.

You could read about it. Every year there are repeal bills in dozens of state legislatures. And every year, there are news articles about these annual attempts to repeal the helmet law.

You could talk about it. Lots of people talk about the helmet law, since most people have opinions about it. Motorcyclists definitely talk about it, though there are almost as many opinions as there are motorcycles.

You could protest about it. Many motorcycle rights organizations and activists make an annual trek to their state capitols. And all those protesters make a lot of noise.

The simplest way is to EARN IT. That obviously means getting off the couch, which a lot of bikers do. But you also need to be effective, and that's where reading, talking, and protesting fall short.

Helmet laws come from state legislators. State legislators are elected, and some of them win by very small margins. A few volunteers can easily help biker-friendly candidates win close elections, and at the same time they can help defeat vulnerable nanny-crat legislators.

This is not science fiction. It is fact. In the past 4 years we have won -- and lost -- close elections by fewer than 100 votes. One, by as few as 16. A couple of bikers can and do make the difference.

So what's the price of freedom? If you want to read, talk, or protest about it, you can't afford it. But if you're willing to break a sweat for a worthy candidate, it's practically free ... just like you.

The Repeal Machine

The Repeal Machine has arrived. Its sole purpose is to build a biker-friendly legislature at the state capitol. That's all it does, nothing more -- nothing less. So feel free to take the Repeal Machine for a test ride. You'll soon find yourself on the road to freedom.

The Accidental Activist

You want to repeal the mandatory helmet law, and you're willing to do what it takes to restore your right to decide.

How effective are you?

This is a reasonable question. It's not a matter of how hard you work, or how passionate you are. Nor does it depend on how effective you are at debating the issue. You have to measure your effectiveness in a way that is simple and easy to prove, just like saying 2 + 2 = 4.

Several states are considering some type of helmet law repeal. And there is no doubt that bikers rights activists are behind these bills. At least one biker organization in each of these states asked a biker-friendly legislator to submit a bill. That much is easy to prove.

But beyond that, it gets murky.

The way it plays out from here is predictable enough. Either the bill passes, or it doesn't. But WHY it plays out as passing or failing is not so clear, and what effect bikers have on the outcome is often totally misunderstood.

The wording of the bill gets a lot of attention, with the belief that adding the right conditions is crucial. Looking back at prior years, many bikers feel that previous bills failed simply because they lacked the right words to sweeten the deal. In truth, this is an extremely small factor since most legislators either support our right to decide ... or they don't.

A little sugar doesn't necessarily help the medicine go down.

Another conventional approach is that bikers need to rise up and be heard when the bill is being considered. Flooding the legislature with emails, faxes, and phone calls is the tactic. But again, this approach has a marginal effect. Incumbent legislators always get a tremendous amount of input on controversial bills. But if there's nothing except temporary noise, it's easy enough to ignore.

Big protest rallies are good at getting bikers stoked up. A show of force is very good ... to a point. But like the flood of emails and faxes, it too subsides. After the rally, the bikers go back home and wait for change to come. And the legislators go back to business as usual.

So what are the results of all this activism?

Not much, when it comes to how the vote comes down on repeal. As long as we bikers limit ourselves to only telling legislators what we want, we will never have control over the outcome. Without doing anything more than voicing our opinions, passing a repeal bill becomes a game of chance.

With these worn out tactics, ther's no way to break out of this dead end. We can not do it by getting more bikers to talk to their legislators. We can't do it by getting better at debating the issue. And we sure can't trick legislators into supporting repeal with crafty bill language.

Simply put, legislators need a reason to change their minds.

It takes a totally different approach to change the game, and that approach is the Repeal Machine. It's a simple process with proven results. With just a few bikers, working as campaign volunteers for electable candidates, we can build a biker-friendly majority.

How legislators vote is no longer a matter of personal opinion. Now it becomes a matter of job security.

Take a look at the Repeal Machine. There are very few moving parts, so there's less to break down. It has no weak links. And if each step is sucessfully completed, the dream of helmet law repeal becomes a reality. And that's no accident.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com