By Bruce Arnold

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On Tuesday, 4 November 2008, "We the People" will elect a new President and Vice President. In addition, 33 U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs, as are all 435 seats in the House:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
United_States_presidential_election,_2008

We will also be choosing 11 new governors, and deciding the winners of countless thousands of state and local political races:

http://www.eac.gov/voter/how-to-contact-your-state-election-office

So on Tuesday, 4 November 2008, I am calling on every American motorcyclist to RIDE TO THE POLLS AND VOTE. It is a fundamental obligation of every American citizen to share the responsibility for deciding who will govern us, and how we will be governed. Voting is how that responsibility is discharged. Motorcyclists who don't vote have no right to complain if they don't like the outcome. And that goes doubly for MRO leaders and others in what Maryland Nannycrat and GHSA Chairman Vernon F. Betkey Jr. (email: vbetkey@sha.state.md.us ) calls the "vocal minority":

http://www.ghsa.org/html/issues
/pdf/2008.10.09.helmet.comments.pdf

They have no right to ride around beating their chests and calling themselves "Freedom Fighters" unless they do everything in their power to encourage and organize every rider they can reach to RIDE TO THE POLLS AND VOTE.

If 80% of a 20% minority votes, they have as much political clout as an 80% majority where 20% vote!

Why is it so important, you may ask, that we RIDE to the polls?

Because there is nothing politicians and their appointed bureaucrats respect (and fear) more than constituent groups they know can (and will) vote them into (or out of) office.

Riding to the polls will make a clear visual statement that BIKERS VOTE, and that they better pay attention to us. Don't think for a moment your vote will be wasted because we are a minority. America was founded by a "vocal minority", so don't let seemingly insurmountable math discourage you. It is not our percentage of the voter population that matters, but rather our percentage of the population that votes: If 80% of the members of a 20% minority actually get out and vote, they have just as much political clout as an 80% majority where only 20% vote. Our politicians know that. So do our bureaucrats. And now, so do you...

Who should American motorcyclists vote for on Tuesday, 4 November 2008?

It is not my place to tell you who to vote for in any national, state or local race. But I will suggest who you should consider voting against:

THE INCUMBENTS.

Not all incumbents, mind you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbD62gNi9WE&NR=1

...just the ones who have demonstrated by their votes, actions and appointments that they stand in opposition to the best interests of their constituents in general, and motorcyclists in particular:

At the local level, I encourage you to oust any and all Republocrats who have sponsored or supported discriminatory municipal bike bans, noise ordinances, or unconstitutional lid laws such as S.C. Ordinance 2008-64, recently passed into law by the City Council of Myrtle Beach (and presently the subject of multiple civil lawsuits):

http://www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com/
PDF%20Forms/Helmet%20eyewear%20Sept%2008-64.pdf

At the state level, I encourage you to oust any and all Republocrats who have sponsored or supported draconian anti-biker state legislation such as Florida HB-137...

http://www.ldrlongdistancerider.com/
bikers_rights_motorcycle/rightsriders0101.php

...a bill that that would never have become law were it not for the inappropriate actions of a corrupt SMRO lobbyist...

http://pub42.bravenet.com/forum/3562429698/fetch/869625/

...coupled with the inexcusable apathy of a vast majority of Florida's 900,000+ riders.

At the national level, I encourage you to oust any and all Republocrats who have sponsored or supported diabolical legislation that benefits the few at the expense of the many...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27yitK32ds

...including but not limited to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (H.R.1424)...

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR01424:@@@R

...which privatizes the gains of a few fatcats, while socializing their losses to the millions. This arguably criminal piece of legislation not only broke our national debt clock last week...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
miles-mogulescu/bin-laden-used-a-similar_b_132230.html

...but also brings our ailing republic dangerously close to the edge of a socialistic abyss ... wherein what we ride and how we ride will be dictated by "the State" ... and freedom of choice will become nothing more than a fond memory we share with our grandchildren ... as they labor for foreign masters, struggling to pay off our debts.

Is this the legacy you want to leave?

If not, then on Tuesday, 4 November 2008, RIDE TO THE POLLS AND VOTE! And when you do, send a message to politicians everywhere that they can no longer wrap their corruption and incompetence in Old Glory and expect us to swallow it as the "patriotic" thing to do. The truly patriotic thing to do is vote them out of office!

UNLESS THEY VOTED "NO", THESE REPUBLOCRATS NEED TO GO

In the House (Click a party to list individual members):

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/house/2/
votes/680/

In the Senate (Click a party to list individual members):

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/senate/2/
votes/213/

Speaking strictly for myself and no other individuals or organizations,

Bruce Arnold

Bruce@LdrLongDistanceRider.com
Author and Publisher, LdrLongDistanceRider.com
Co-Moderator, Bruce-n-RC's Biker Forum
Mile Eater Gold Member, Iron Butt Association (IBA)
Sustaining Member, Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF)
2007 Chairman's Circle, American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)

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