Archive for April 11th, 2008
Fair Trade Participation
Now, I’d bet that folks who visit my page, whether involved with motorcycling, or not, know that motorcyclists (” bikers”, for the sake of convenience) support a lot of charitable efforts. The best known is Toys For Tots, but bikers support the effort to cure breast cancer, lymphoma and leukemia, combat child abuse, support children’s homes, nursing homes and women’s shelters, animal rescue, blanket drives, eyeglass drives and on ad infinitum
(that’s Latin for, “you name it”).
We may not all be much to look at but, generally, we’re damned good people.
We also seem to be Big Brother’s whippin’ boys and girls (and not in a fun way). When drivers, many of whom shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car to begin with, kill enough of us, government do-gooders (read: meddlers) don’t try to make licensing more stringent, or enforce traffic laws, or penalize those who kill and maim us. No, they force (there’s a word that should be used sparingly in a free society), they force helmets and other feel-good fixes on us.
In order to protect ourselves from the government, we have formed “MROs”, Motorcycle Rights Organizations. The Texas Motorcycle Rights Assoc. (TMRA II) has a very effective representative in Austin. Some of the folks may have heard of ABATE. ABATE is called, among other titles, “A Brotherhood Against Tyrannical Edicts”.
Now, (to quote Elvis) I said all that to say all this:
A fellow rider and blogger pointed out that bikers turn out and help raise big-time bucks for charitable groups, yet, when the State decides to come down on us, we find ourselves standing alone. He states that he will no longer support efforts that won’t pledge 10% of donations to an MRO. Further, he will publicize what he considers the hypocrisy of, and name the names of, charities which use bikers to raise funds but won’t back us when oppressive laws are proposed.
I read that with interest.
