The motorcycling community in the State of Washington has
the opportunity to come together and use the power of our numbers to make
serious change in Olympia. Imagine if every member of the various Motorcycle Rights Organizations in the State of Washington took 30 minutes or more to contact the candidates for legislative
office in their district, and asked questions on where they stand on our issues,
we could make an intelligent vote in November and shift the power structure in
Olympia. If the members of ABATE, the COC,
NCOM, MRF, LAC, and others ALL contacted
the candidates and spoke to them about our common issues, and voted upon the
responses we were given. The legislature
would soon begin to feel the pressure the motorcycling community could bring to
bear. With over 219,000 motorcycles
registered, imagine the effect if everyone who owned a motorcycle within the
State of Washington contacted the candidates and based their votes on the
responses to their questions on our issues.
At times, the motorcycling community can still be too
fractured and splintered to actually act in a coherent and unified manner
politically. Segments of the
motorcycling community have been much more politically active than others. But with cultural differences within the
motorcycling community as it currently stands, it will take something severe to
successfully mold it into anything that truly resembles unity. Part of the trouble seems to be that the
various segments of the overall motorcycling community visualize themselves as
being separate and set apart. Many times
the riders of the various types of motorcycles perceive themselves as unable to
be accepted by the other segments of the community, or seem unable to accept. Whether that perception is real or not, it
seems to be a factor in the slowly diminishing segmentation of the motorcycling
community. But there is hope. As some segments of the population are
reaching out to one another in an attempt to bridge some of the gaps in
communications between the different subcultures of our community. Organizations like; ABATE, the Council Of
Clubs, the Motorcycle Profiling Project, the National Sport Bike Association, and
the Motorcycle Rights Foundation and others are beginning to make inroads. Spreading the concept that we must stand
together to protect our Freedoms.
The realization is beginning to grow that the only way to
end anti-motorcycle laws is to unite, and stand together. The motorcycling community is beginning to
set aside their differences and stand together peacefully and supportively in
the fight against the violation of our Civil Rights. From our First Amendment
issues of freedom of speech and association, to our Fourth Amendment Right to security
in our persons and possessions from illegal search and seizures, or our
Fourteenth Amendment Right to equal protection under the law, and beyond.
There have been other groups in society that have set
aside their differences and joined together to promote their common goals. They have affected great change in the
government, and have had laws passed to protect their Rights. It took time, but as each group came to the
realization that they needed to unify politically to survive, they set aside
their petty differences and came together to fight for their common goals. What finally tipped the scales, and in many
cases brought the various factions together all seemed to hinge on Civil
Rights. As the realization spread that
each community was having their Civil Rights violated, and that unifying to
correct those violations, those communities fought back and to differing
degrees changed history.
As other diverse cultures and communities have done
before us, the greater motorcycling community is beginning to accept the idea
that standing together in mutual self defense of our Civil Liberties is the
only way we are going to survive. When
laws are passed that affect the Rights of motorcyclists; it isn’t only the Club
Community, or the Sport Bike Community, or the Independent Community. It is all the various groups within our
community that are affected. We may not
generally associate together on the roadways, but we must learn to stand
together politically or we will all fall separately.
The motorcycling community of Washington State needs to
come together and set aside our differences in order affect true political
change that will allow all of us to be able to exercise our Rights without the
paternalistic mentality of some government officials and agencies from
subjugating us to their own political agenda.
If even one hundredth (1/100) of the owners of the over 215,000
motorcycles in Washington State came together for a “public” event on the issues
of discrimination and motorcycle profiling facing all motorcyclists in our
state, can you imagine the political power we could have? Think about that for a bit. That would be over 2,000 motorcycles of all
types coming together in unity, and peaceful protest against the anti-motorcycle
laws that are discriminatingly forced into our lives.
As the Washington legislature stands at this writing, the
party leaders have generally stood in paternalistic opposition to our efforts
to secure the liberty to exercise our Rights, has a very narrow two seat
majority in the House. That means; that
if three less Democrats are elected, or some other combination of either
Republican, Libertarian or Independent are elected that reduces the number of
Democrats in the House by three, the entire political make-up of the House will
change. This will cause a reshuffling of
the current Committee Chairs. This would
reduce the direct power some of the staunchest obstacles to exercising our
Freedoms have to merely being a single vote among a group. Meaning that they no longer having the power
to kill our bills simply by not allowing a hearing on them to be held.
By uniting to defend our Rights, and to elect those who
support those Rights (no matter what their party affiliation). The motorcycling community would be able to
affect great change in the political structure of Washington State. It will require effort, and respect for
ourselves and each other. But there are
examples that show it can be done.
Before you say it “will never happen”, or “it won’t work”, take a look
at what transpired on the first anniversary of the Waco Massacre on May 17th,
2016. Representatives of motorcycle
clubs from around the U.S. came together.
They set aside their differences, and stood in unity with each other at
the Shamrock Cycles in Austin, Texas as part of a “National Protest Against
Motorcycle Profiling and Discrimination.
Members of the Outlaws MC, the Hells Angels MC, The Mongols MC, the
Vagos MC, the Hessians MC, The Sons of Silence MC, The Devils Disciples MC, the
Infidels MC, the Valiants MC, the Outsiders MC, and several other motorcycle
clubs all set aside their differences and came together for the common good.
Perhaps the Washington State motorcyclists should take a
long hard look at the example of the Club Community in this manner. Only by standing together, with unity of
purpose, have we ever succeeded in protecting our Civil Rights. I truly believe it is the only way that we
ever will. There are some tough fights coming up in
November that will have a great affect on the motorcyclists of Washington
State. It is for us, the motorcycling
community to decide whether we will stand by as our ability to exercise our
Rights to be limited by a few, or stand together and insure they are supported
by many.
This cannot be done by simply voting for one party or the
other. Isn’t that the same closed minded
mentality that has made it difficult to unite in the first place? That you would totally exclude voting for
someone simply because they belong to a different political party? Think about that for a few seconds. Isn’t that like saying you are going to vote
for someone whether or not they support you Right to ride free from burdensome
laws, and law enforcement, simply because of the party they belong to? Or is it better for you to vote for someone
who actually supports your Right to ride freely and in the manner that you feel
best protects you from all the other risks we face daily no matter what party
(if any) they belong too? If we come
together, and think of ourselves as ‘motorcyclists’ not Democrats or Republicans
or Libertarians; then we can elect legislators who not only support us, but who
also know the power we can wield when we desire to. We can achieve this simply by standing
together for our own common goal of Freedom.
Let us come together and prune the legislature of nanny
state politicians (they exist in both parties).
This will allow the Freedom minded politicians (these too exist in both
parties) to work together more effectively.
Does it really make any sense to say you will only vote for candidates on the basis of the party they are
in? That is like saying you will only purchase; a motorcycle, a car or
truck, or a gun of a particular make and model.
Does that make any sense? Why
limit yourself to making a choice simply by brand? Does that really provide you with the best
you can get? If you want the best
government we can have, do your homework.
Find out which candidates for the legislature (and that includes Lt,
Governor and Governor) support our issues, and vote them into office. I mean really now, does it make any sense to
vote someone into office that doesn’t support our issues, just because of the
party they belong to? Let us all dump
the party line, and actually vote to elect people who support us for a change.
If we stand together as motorcyclists; and respect each
other within the community, even if we don’t necessarily like each other, we
can accomplish great things. So let us show unity of purpose, and bring
pressure upon the legislature to pass laws that allow us the Liberty to
exercise Our Rights and live as we choose to.
Freely
Catch you on the road sometime…
