Motorcycle Nation Podcast

Today is ABATE Day at the Statehouse. The legislators here in Indiana know this day well as they are annually welcomed to the Capitol on this morning with coffee and pastries passed out by motorcyclists from the organization. As they walk the halls on this day they will be greeted by leather vest wearing, smiling two wheel enthusiasts that love freedom. Hopefully everyone stopped long enough this morning to remove the bugs from their teeth,

Seriously, the legislators know that once a year they will hear from a group of riders that are passionate about maintaining their rights, both as motorcyclists and citizens. They know quite a few by name as our members stay in contact with their individual legislator throughout the year. We have been called the greatest, most powerful grass roots lobby organization in the State. We have had many victories over the years. From the repeal of the discriminatory add on motorcycle registration fee that called upon two wheel enthusiasts only to aid in funding spinal cord injury research to beating the many attempts to force mandatory helmet usage upon us.

We have accomplished this with dedication to the cause at hand. There is truth in the saying strength in numbers. There are people willing to spend a day at the Statehouse for the right to stand up and be heard. This is not only needed for motorcyclists. It is needed for all citizens. Assaults on our rights don’t only come from our states, they come from our federal government as well. We are being slammed in Washington right now and we need to stand up and be heard there as well.

On two levels I urge you to get involved. As a motorcyclist, join your state motorcyclist rights organization. Also join the AMA and / or the MRF. Just because you don’t live in DC and can’t lobby in person does not mean your voice can’t be heard. That is what the AMA and MRF are all about. They maintain a daily presence inside the beltway on our behalf. As a citizen, write and call your legislator on issues that you want heard. We put them there and they are supposed to work for us. We need to do our best to keep them honest and sitting back watching TV and complaining is not the answer. Keep them on their toes and let them know that you expect them to do the job you hired them to do. We need to take America back!

STAND UP AND BE HEARD MOTORCYCLE NATION

On August 5th, Jay Jackson, Executive Director of ABATE of Indiana and Vice President of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), was inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame at a breakfast in Rapid City, SD during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Jay’s inclusion into the Hall of Fame is due to his lifelong commitment to fighting for the rights of motorcyclists all over the nation.

Jay Jackson, third from right, with attendees from Indiana and Ohio.

Besides his duties as the Executive Director of the largest State Motorcycle Rights Organization (SMRO) in the nation and his recent acceptance of the VP position with the MRF, Jay is often asked to speak at hearings and committee meetings in Washington, DC concerning motorcycle safety. ABATE of Indiana is proud of his accomplishments and congratulates him on his award. I am proud to work for and with him.

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This episode starts off with a quick summary of my road trip to Cedar Springs, MI and then moves along to the loss of two very committed motorcyclists. One local, Mark Garback, a motorcycle safety instructor with ABATE of Indiana and the other Mike “Boz” Kerr, Vice President of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation.

Next up is an interview with Paul Holdsworth that you have to listen to. You will be floored by Paul’s experiences over his many years of motorcycling and he speaks of his role with IronWorks Magazine. Many thanks to Paul as he was patient with my screwed up schedule and waited many weeks to record this podcast. Thanks again Paul. You can find subscription info to IronWorks Magazine by following the link and you can enjoy the musings of Snakebit Sam at IWBlogger.

We close out the show with another Eclipse song, Green Fishing Line. Follow the link to their website and get your own CD if you have been enjoying the music we have been playing on the podcast.

Special thanks to my friend Dennis Tyger for taking the road trip with me. Better friends are hard to find. As always, we appreciate you, the listeners of the Motorcycle Nation Podcast, for taking the time out of your life to support and listen. Safe travels.

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It is done! We have moved here to our new home and I am excited! This short episode talks about our exciting weekend moving the site and attending ABATE of Indiana Motorcycle Safety Division site meetings and Awards Banquet. Come listen to what I won. We also discuss two awesome events coming up so don’t miss a thing!

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YOU GOTTA FIGHT…FOR YOUR RIGHT…TO PARTY!!!
As I was trying to come up with the title for this post that song was pounding through my head. Believe it or not, we can learn from the Beastie Boys. No, I am not talking about partying, but I am talking about being willing to fight for something that we want or believe in. This post provides good timing as many of our state legislatures are in session right now. I can promise you that in the mountain of proposed amendments or bills, there is at least one that will affect your rights as a motorcyclist. There are hundreds that will affect you as a citizen. What are you willing to do about it? Are you a leader or a follower?

The followers in this fight usually take one of two stances. Stance 1 is when they sit back and say that no matter what you do you can’t fight government. You will never win. Stance 2 is when they take the attitude that the next guy will stand up and fight for them so they don’t have to. Either way, they are among the loudest voices in the crowd whining about the problem but never have any intention of trying to be a part of the solution. If you are a follower, let me speak directly to you. There is strength in numbers and you can fight the government and win. Case in point. Indiana enacted a law in 2007 that allowed an additional fee above and beyond the normal administrative and licensing costs associated with putting your motorcycle on the road. This fee added $10 per motorcycle registration in the state and was to be used to fund research for spinal cord injuries. The legislature grossly assumed that motorcyclists were overly represented in this area due to motorcycle accidents. The fact that Indiana does not require helmets for anyone over 18 (unless on a permit) and the fact that they are defeated nearly every year on the issue may have played into this decision as well.

You can surely guess what kind of response this was met with in the Indiana motorcycle nation. We did not appreciate being discriminated against in this fashion. Had these people mistakenly overlooked the skateboarders, bicycle riders, athletes, skiers, and others that are afflicted with this injury or was there malicious intent to single out the “no helmet wearing bikers”? This bill passed as a rider on the state budget that passed merely minutes prior to the close of the session. It was added after it failed to ride the back of another bill (which ABATE of Indiana helped squash) but could not stop the state budget. We were disappointed but we vowed to win in 2008.

ABATE of Indiana holds an ABATE day at the Statehouse where we lobby our legislators on issues coming up in session. This is normally held in January or February and we have members sign up and spend the day at the capitol building. 2008 was the largest turnout that we ever had! Motorcyclists were passionate about this issue and it showed. During the year, ABATE of Indiana Executive Director Jay Jackson worked with Governor Mitch Daniels’ office to discuss this matter with the bill author, Representative Carolene Mays. ABATE members had called her office and written letters and emails to her as well and she had agreed to approach the appropriate committee during this session and ask for a modification. We agreed that there was a need for the research to be funded and that a more fair approach would be to add a $.50 fee to all motor vehicle registrations rather than singling out the two wheeled crowd. Besides, this would raise a much larger total.

There were people there on both sides of the issue at the committee meeting which was held in a small committee meeting room in the basement of the state capitol. There were enough motorcyclists there that we spilled out into the outer foyer area and even out into the main hallway. How could they resist? Needless to say, the Hoosier motorcycle nation is no longer handcuffed by an unfair, discriminatory fee.

In summary, strength in numbers. Next time your local, state, or federal government tries to tread on you, get off your lazy rear ends and stand up for yourself. If you are not an ABATE or other state motorcyclist rights organization member, I urge you to make that your first step off the couch and join up. Don’t forget, there are brain dead legislators in Washington too so throw a little money to the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (http://mrf.org) or the American Motorcyclist Association (http://ama-cycle.org). Get off the couch. You enjoy the victory when we win so earn your piece of the victory!

……you gotta fight…for your right… to paaarrrrrrttaayy!!!!!

Steve “Bullitt” McQueen