Animal - Sons of Liberty Riders
Not many people outside my circle know that I commute 400
miles for work, living in Arizona and working in San Diego. I
make the run once or twice a month, half of it is California
(helmet mandate) and half is Arizona (no mandate for adults). I
would take the beanie off at the AZ line and enjoy the rest of the
ride home.
This trip home was for my daughters dive competition. Yes, she
qualified for the State competition. It was also her 16th birthday, as
well as her first homecoming dance with her boyfriend. I also
spent the weekend playing with my 10 month old grandson, while
discussing politics and liberty with my son and his girlfriend. My
only reason for pointing out all the kid interaction is because on
the ride thru Arizona I made a major decision based on my kids
and their futures. I will lay that all out in this writing.
In my opinion, way too many people fear the government, the
laws, and the police. They fail to realize that this government is
here to serve US, the people. They are not our parents, nor our
caretakers. They are to do our will, not impose their will on us.
Whether it is about safety, income, or sexual preferences, our
elected officials have absolutely NO right to impose any mandates
on us outside of what is mandated in the constitution. Period. They
need to learn this, and soon, before it is too late.
So, along these lines, I made a decision. I chose to make it my goal
in life to follow the mandate handed me as a founding member of
Sons of Liberty Riders as it pertains to the helmet law in
California, and help those in other States to do the same. Our
mandate, as active members of SoLR, is to teach, educate, and
lead like minded people. This does not mean lots of talk about
what we should do, or what we want to do. This mean deliberate
actions to make a change, while leading others in the same
direction. It means having people follow your lead and they learn
and help others make changes. That is how it has to work, in my
world.
Forget making changes through the political system, thru your
“friendly” legislators. They are not your friends, they have careers
to protect. They may claim to support you, but when it comes to
those campaign dollars, we lose to the big pockets out there. This
has been proven over and over, is many States with helmet
mandates. I, for one, am sick and tired of it.
Today, I left Arizona and had about 3 hours of thought time, to
ponder our helmet fight and what we can do. We had a helmet
protest in Sad Diego this summer, where 200 riders showed up and
16 of them actually made a point and got a ticket. Less than 10%,
not a good showing at all. At that rate, no one will take us serious.
A different plan needs to happen.
So, as of today, my beanie will spend most of the rest of its life in
a saddlebag. I will be wearing my “soft helmet” anytime I ride in
California, if anything is on my head. I came up on the California
border today and kept going, lidless, and waited for my ticket. My
goal was to see how far I got with nothing on my head, and what
reaction I got from the Sheriff, Highway Patrol, or Border Patrol. I
rode the whole way to La Mesa without being stopped, although I
saw 3 police and was waved through the border checkpoint. When
the Sheriffs Deputy saw me and did a double-take, I pulled over
and waited for him to come get me. I waited long enough to drink
a bottle of water and said to hell with it and left.
I enjoyed the spectators, those passing me on the highway.
Truckers blew their horns as I passed them, and cars and trucks
passing me gave me thumbs-ups. I was definitely noticed and
considered this a learning experience for them all. There were not
many bikes out, but the few that I saw gave a small wave as they
passed.
The average ticket in California for an improper helmet or no
helmet is $100, give or take. I have made my own personal fund to
cover many tickets, assuming I lost in court. I do not plan to lose,
but need to cover it just in case. Either way, I am now guaranteed
months if not years of riding free in California, until a judge
finally agrees that this motorcycle helmet law is unconstitutionally
vague. The police have no idea what a “proper helmet” is, and
there is no list anywhere that we can find of proper helmets, so no
matter what I wear I will stand a chance of getting a ticket. I
choose to define my own helmet and make them prove it is not
“proper”, by law.
Quigley has been doing this for years in Northern California, so
this is hardly some new idea from me. He made a decision and led
me and educated me by doing it. Now it is my turn to help in
Southern California. That is how it should work, in my world.
So, those of you in helmet mandate States … go ahead and keep
on doing what hasn’t worked for years. Keep droning on with the
mantra “We were close, maybe next year” while an army of civilly
disobedient riders enjoy the hell out of making our choice in spite
of unconstitutional laws mandated to us, the owners of this United
States.
Animal
Sons of Liberty Riders
forward this anywhere, we need people willing to push the
limits.
