The Price of Apathy

by Mark Buckner

Executive Director, Motorcycle Riders Foundation

Member, ABATE of Wisconsin

As patriotic Americans, we often talk about the price of freedom. We talk about the sacrifices required to protect our rights and about those who came before us, people of integrity who oftentimes gave everything they had in pursuit of an ideal; of a country and a way of life where our children and grandchildren can grow up proud to be Americans, unapologetically embracing a system of government that many other people in the world would love to have. We talk about our service men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice, and we are thankful to live in a country that allows us to live our lives as we please, to enjoy the freedom provided by our Constitution, to be able to participate in what laws are passed and which ones aren’t, and to teach our values to future generations.

In the motorcyclists’ rights world, we also talk about guarding against undue government intrusion into our lives and warn against the influence of mainstream media propaganda aimed at tearing down some of our most basic and cherished beliefs. When you get right down to it, that’s why the motorcyclists’ rights movement exists. It’s where we started and why we still fight for our rights at every turn. As past MRF President Karen Bolin once said, “We’re in the freedom business.”

Now consider the price of apathy, of seeing what’s around us, knowing that some of what’s happening is wrong, and doing nothing. Doing nothing, of course, is taking the easy way out. In many cases it’s the old ‘not in my backyard’ philosophy of ‘If it doesn’t affect me directly, why should I worry about it?’

The challenges facing motorcycling today are among the most serious ever, and those challenges are – like it or not – in everyone’s backyard. The MRF and our partners in state motorcyclists’ rights organizations are fighting for the right to repair our own bikes, without being forced to have services that we could easily manage ourselves be performed by dealerships charging exorbitant rates. We’re fighting to protect consumer choice through a strong aftermarket, ensuring that we have access to the vast number of options on parts the aftermarket gives us, parts that are many times better and cheaper than what we’d get from the OEMs. We’re fighting to keep unsafe software being used in autonomous, self-driving cars and trucks from being tested on our nation’s roadways and killing bikers in the process. We’re fighting to keep our ability to buy fuel that won’t destroy our engines, as will be the case if gasoline with 15% ethanol becomes our only choice. We’re fighting to preserve internal combustion engines, rather than being forced to buy electric vehicles at a time when neither the battery technology nor a sufficient charging infrastructure to support such vehicles is in place. We’re fighting to prevent unfair profiling of motorcycle riders. And the list goes on.

So, what price apathy? A riding public that chooses to ignore the threats to motorcycling while sitting idly by, expecting others to do the hard work of protecting our rights and our lifestyle, is arguably the biggest threat we face. Ask yourself: Should we, through our actions, control our own destiny? Forge our own futures? Or should we sit back, foolishly believing that the government knows best how we should run our lives and hoping for the best. There are roughly 8 million registered motorcyclists in America. If even a small percentage of that group were to join with the MRF and our partners in our mission to preserve motorcycling, imagine what we could do. Then imagine what will happen if the vast majority of those 8 million riders choose to do nothing.

Since 1987, there’s only been one organization exclusively devoted to protecting the rights and lifestyle of street riding motorcyclists in the halls of Congress, and that’s the Motorcycle Riders Foundation. To those of you who are already members of ABATE of Wisconsin and the MRF, thank you.  You’ve already proven that you’re committed to helping protect and preserve motorcycling. That said, we still need your help.

All of us have friends who are not members. If you’re not an MRF member, please help us by joining. If you’re already a member, please renew your membership each year, and of equal importance, please sign up one of your friends as a new MRF member.

The price of apathy is the loss of freedom, an open invitation to tyranny, and – without a strong MRF – could well be the end of motorcycling as we know it.

https://mrf.org/join-the-mrf/