Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

III Despite all th e well-intentioned & proposals for p olitic al ac tivis m in ,f defense of m o torcy clin g at th e level of M indi vi d uals , clu bs a n d informal ~ coalitions , the b asic capability to sh ape th e future of mo t orcy cling in the g Uni te d S tates lies entirely in th e hands c of two sm all groups of me n, abou t ..!l whom very little seems to have been said in the motorcycle p ress: ~ I . T h e Board of Direct ors of Ho nda ~ Motors w 2. T he Board of Directors of AMF Nobod y else really co un ts. ~ Do you say th e other m anufact urers co un t ? In intern al struggles, p erhaps, but in political matters regarding th e good of the in dustry as a whole, wh ere Ho nda/AM F lead th e others will surely fo llow. And where HondAM F refuses to lead, th e oth ers cannot make much headway. d WHO COUNTS? Do yo u say the AMA an d simil ar organizations co un t? The Al\IA does wh at HondAMF te lls it t o d o, an d th at's th at. Do yo u say th e edito rs of th e do zen s of mot o rcy cle publicati on s count because of t hei r critical ro le in unifying, shap in g, and guid ing th e op in io ns of mill ion s o f readers? By th e very nature of their busin ess, th eir views are fra gme nted and often conflicting. To read so me bik e magazines, yo u'd never kn ow th at va rio us cli q ues of sp iteful crack pots were busily egging -on Big Brother to sq uas h th e sport of motorcycli n g. But a few re asoned w ords of ex planation from their advertisers w ou ld m a k e t he m r eali ze th e im portance of taking a more vigorous lin e in defen se of the sp o rt. Not merely to save th eir ad vertising reven ue, but to save th eir readershi p b y saving their readers' righ ts to o wn an d o perate mo t orcy cles. Do you say th at motorcycle retailers co un t? T o the average mo to rcycle dealer, "long range p lannin g" mean s guessing on T ues day h ow much money will be in th e cash register a t the en d of the wee k. It is unre alistic to ex pect m ost dealers to ini ti ate a defen se of the sport. Ho wever, where H ondAMF leads, most o f th em will n ecessarily fo llo w. Do you say that clubs an d similar organ izations co un t? Given big-time finan acial backin g th ey co uld , but with out th at backin g, they're almost (b u t n o t, thank good ness, co m p le tely) helpl ess. Every small group th at makes it s ma rk on gove rn me n t p oli cy h as the backing of so me signi fica n t patr on o r patrons, i.e .. p eopl e who can provide it w it h fun ds , o rgani zatio nal know-how , co n tac ts , a s tea dy flow of favora ble p u b l i ci ty , access to high places, tran sportation, c o o r di n a t i o n , operational . advice and organizational continuity. Do y o u say that a fe.w inspired individ uals like Russ Sanford an d Ch arle s Sim on co un t? The h ard fac t is th at the y are f reaks. Glorious, wonderful freaks. From where will come the 49 o ther Russ S anfords to lob by th e 49 o th er state legisla tures? And fro m wh ere the d o zen mo re necessary to lo bby Congress in defense of th e freedom of motorcyclists to exist an d pursue their p erson al visions of happin ess? tak e. A frien d of mi n e would theoretically be an Earl (th e ti tle actually passed to In Defense of Freedom ' by J . G . Krol From where will co me th e 50 m o re Ch arl es Sim on s to mo rtgate th eir h omes, in o rde r to m ake the legal attack on th e sup posed co nstitutionali ty of the helmet-weari ng law s a viable st ruggle? Are y o u willing to pursu e a ma tter of prin cipl e t o th e ben ch o f th e Supre me Court ? D o you say th a t th e m illions of co nc ern ed m otorcyclists co unt, if only th ey 'd ge t t oge th er ? But that's exactly th e p o int! Tens, even h undreds, of thousan ds of us are willing to follow , if o nly so meone w ould lea d. Only HondAM F can lead. Only Ho ndA!\l F has th e reso urces , the know-h o w, th e co n tin uity , th e stature in th e m o t o rcy cle com m unity t o m ak e th e b asic d ecisi on and to mak e it stick. On ly Hon dAM F can get us o ff th e dime. So wh a t h as Hon dAMF done? It has sq uande re d millions o f d o llars o n " pu bli c r el a t i on s", wis tfully dreamin g.tha t this co uld so me how make th e problem of gove rn me n t in terven ti on go away. Hell, how many p eople h ave a h i ghl y fa vorable " image" o f th e Teams te rs Union? H ow many pe op le love, ad mire and resp ect th e Bell Syst em ? How many Pol es, Hungari an s, Czech oslovakian s, Lithuanians an d East Germans dance gay ly aro und th eir Maypole s h appily ch an ting , " Yo u meet th e nicest pe ople in th e Kremlin " ? Favorabl e image is so me th ing y o u buy after you h ave all th e p ow er you n e ed, li k e philanthropist A nd re w Carnegie did by ded icating scores of public lib rari es to his glo rifi ca tio n , lon g after he 'd made h is pil e and ce men t ed it by purchas in g the service s o f legisla tors in all regions through wh ich h is rail road s ran . M.O.R.E • froDl the. Capitol by Ru ss Sanford A n Open Letter t o All South ern Califo rn ia Motorcycle Clubs • Who co uld .h ave more favorable images than nobility ? Hell, a sch oo lm ate of mine was a titled Baron . About 19 generations back , an an cestor o f h is had se t up steady work as a non-travelling highwayman . He exto rte d money fr om merch an ts who wan te d to use th e road through a p ass he controlled with hi s gang of arm ed cut-th roats, and cal le d th is "collec ting t o lls" . He was made a Bar on by the Elector when he agr ee d t o cut th e central go vernment in on the As you arc no dou bt aware, the Bureau of Land Man agem en t enacted a regulation on Sep te mber 18th whic h places rath er stringent requiremen ts up on o rganiza tions wh ich co nd uct com p e ti tive events upon BLM-administered public lan ds. Man y o f us fee l th at suc h a regulation is d iscrimina to ry and unconstitutional. Recen tl y, the EI Cajon Mo torcy cle Club d efied th e BLM regulat ion and staged an even t without o btaining th e necessary p ermi ts an d wi th ou t p ay in g th e prescribed fees. Each of us may di ff er in our opi nion of wh eth er th e EI Caj on Motorcycl e Club was ' right' o r ' wro ng'. But to th is we must agree : the EI Caj on M o t or cy cle Clu b st oo d up for th e righ t of all public ci tizens to use the public lands. T hey defi ed the BLM , an d now th e Fede ral Government is threatening to bring suit against the EI Cajon Motorcycle Club, as an entity, and against ea ch of its members , personally. No one ca n fo resee th e outcome of this lawsuit, but if th e co ur ts should find th at th e BLM regulation is un constitutional, as we b elieve it is, th en the EI Cajon Motorcycle Club will have p erformed a major service to all off-ro ad vehicle enthusiasts. If th e EI Cajon Motorcycle Club loses this case , not only will we all lose, bu t ea ch of th e ECMC members stand to lose their person al possession s. It is up to the rest of us to en sure that the EI Caj on Motorcycl e Club has th e p ossib le defense in this matter. And th at will co st many dollars. It is m y in tenti on to sp end the en tire month o f February in Sou the rn Cali fornia , fo r the purpose of visiting an d ad d ressing motorcycle clu bs . My in tent is to di scu ss lan d-use prob lem s an d legislat ion wh ich affects b o th d ir t-ride rs and ro ad -rid ers. I d o not, and never have charged or aske d for a fee for makin g th ese visits. How ever in th e past, most clu b s have obtained items o f merch andise from local merch an ts an d co n duc t ed ra ffles during th e meetin g for th e purpose of ma kin g do natio ns to MORE , or fo r covering my ex penses associated with th e visit. If y ou would like to have m e a tten d a me e tin g with your club during Febru ary, please co ntact me im me diately as I will ho n or specific da tes on a first-come , first-serve d basis. I am goi ng to ask tha t yo ur clu b co nd uc t a raffle, or so me o th er type of eve nt, to raise fun ds fo r the EI Cajon Motorcy cle Club. I wish to co llec t th ese funds durin g the cl u b meetings which I a ttend, and will tum the co m b ine d result s over to the EI Caj on Mo torcycle Club a t the end of February. Ea ch p articip ating club will be given cred it fo r their p ortion ' of th e total con t rib u tio n. I will con trib u te all o f my expenses, By w orking together in th is manner, I feel that we can ad d sub st antially to the legal fund which will be necessary to defend o ur rights against th e di scri min atory and un constitutional p oli cy laid down by the 81..\1. Please ad dress all com men ts an d inquirie s to Russ Sanford c/o M.O .R. E., P.O . Box 26 06 2, Sacr amento, CA 95826. another bran ch of the fa miiy -wh en his bran ch mo ved t o A merica) becau se an ancestor of hi s m ad e a fort une on war -supplies, so me thing lik e Hen ry Kaiser. Le t a d o zen genera tio ns pass, and th e image o f a com mon croo k or a w ar -pro fit eer rises abou t as hi gh as any im a ge c a n. If t he m ot or cy cle co m m un ity ever gains th e p ower t o defend itsel f agai ns t anybod y who tri es to mess, th e image will c ome . HondA MF h as create d a state-level MIC program an d h as pressured d eal ers in credibl e blunder, in t o join ing. In the dealer must p ay a fixe d fee to belong. This me an s that the p o or er his busin ess is, th e mo re it costs h im to b elon g, relative to his inco me - a so rt of regressive me m bershi p fee. Is it an y w onder th at so man y de alers had to b e blackj ack ed in to j oinin g, an d will ge t ou t at their firs t o p p o rtun ity? HondAMF sponsored wh at it cal led Po liti cal Frontiers Worksh op s. If R on Schneiders' report on th e S outhern California PFW was eve n remo tely accura te an d if th e SoCaI Wor kshop was eve n rem o tely like th e o th ers h eld aro und the co un t ry , th e shole co nc ep t was pure window dressing. HondAM F p romo ted th e in cr edible p etition cam paign whose sole res ult was t o elicit from Presid ent Nix o n th e rin gin g stateme n t that m otorcyclists' view s should b e tak en in to acc o unt when th e governmen t is in th e process of deciding h ow t o di sp ose of them. An y Pre sid ent would have said as much, fo r free , about an y gro u p you ca re t o men tio n. Ho ndAMF has hired a num ber o f comfortab ly p aid p oli ti cal types so th at i t c a n p oin t w ith p rid e at its acquisitions. Do y o u be lieve , do you rea lly be lieve, that a poli tician who ha s lost an ele ction an d is probably lo o kin g fo r so me th ing to tide hi m o ver until his nex t try at public office is go in g to bring the same ded ica tion , th e same co m m ittmen t to his job as so me body from w it h in t he m o t or c y cl e com m un ity ? Some bod y wh o is outraged t o the marr o w of his b on es at th e ra pidly growing rep ressions bein g visited on th e sp o rt ? . To date , HondAl\l F' s record is pathetic. Why ? We can only specula te , since Boards of Direct o rs are no t n o to riously ta lkative, but a number of pl au sib le reas on s can be id en tified. Fi rs t , H ond AM F g r ossly underes timates the sup port it would receive from mill ions of American motorcyclis ts , if only it would d ispl ay th e arrojo t o resis t the ever-in cre asing government pressure on th e m otorcycle co m m u nity . , Honda Motors thinks that it must preserve a low profile so as not to antagonize the politicians on th e Potoma c who might slash its import quotas for cars and bikes. It fail s to see the potential of allying its interests with those o f its cus t o me rs t o mutual benefit. As for AMF , they ar e so h appy over the imm ediat e pr ofit abil ity of Harl ey -David son , com p are d to some of the oth er divi si on s in their cong lo me rate, that they're too busy counting th is m on th 's profi ts to plan for th e fu ture p ro sp erity of th e indust ry as a wh ole. T he old-line H-D personnel , with th eir tradition al in bre ed ing , are no t likely to challenge AA1F's shortsigh te d attitude. Second , HondAMF has never had to c o n f r o n t sys tematic govern me nt repression before so they d on ' t have th e experience painfull y ac cum ulated b y o ther ind us tries. T ru e, the gov ernment has m oved again st cigarettes, b ut n o t directly against AMF's cigarette-making an machines. As for Honda Motors, they grew up in th e Japanese political climate in which government actively p romoted business. It is probably difficult for t he m to imagine th at th e U.S . Government, through a se ries of Fabian acti on s taken in . response to pressutts f rom b ik e -b a iting scre wballs and crac kpots, would actually destr oy an en ti re area o f pl easurable and ful filling human activity . Third, th e m ost di ffi cult ste p in d ealing with any p roblem is de fin ing th e problem. Board s o f Direc tors, j ust lik e everybody else, w ish desperately to believe that p roblems will go away if th ey bury their h eads in their pillows. Bu t the govern me n t is not goi n g to go aw ay. T he ca te rwauling jackals and c hatte r i ng m agp ies u rgin g it t o ex term in ate motorcycling as we kno w it are n o t go ing t o go away . T he pressures agai ns t th e sport are n o t going to go aw a y . T he problem H ondAM F hates to face is this: Just h ow vigo ro us ly is th e m o t or cy cle co m m un ity willing to fight t o defend it s righ t to e xist ? S o far, Hon dAM F's answe r .h as been, "N o t very". S o far , HondAM F h as tri ed to kid it self into b elie ving that governme n t interven ti on is su p erficial. transient, and min or. So far , Ho ndAMF h as tried to pre tend th a t te mporary palli atives ar e all th at are n eed ed. HondA MF has no t realized tha t when influen tial Con gressm an Ch et Holified says, " I do n o t forsee any Federal legislation wh ich will o u tl aw motorcy cles" , he is asser ting that p oliticians h ave th e right and p ower t o o utlaw m o to rcy cling whenever they take a notion to ! Contrast this with the situatio n towa rds which we should aim : a situa ti on in wh ich every gove rn men t o fficial, elec te d o r ap poin te d , wo uld say something like, " It is as absurd , i m pos sib l e a n d unthinkable that govern ment should try to o u tlaw moto rcy cles as that it sh o uld attempt to repeal the Law of Gravity". That is the si tuation . towards which HondAMF should wo rk. WHAT CA N HON DAM F DO? I. Mon ey must b e funneled in t o the fight agai n st govern me n t repression of m otorcy cling. Good public relations ar e nice, but good govern me nt relations co me fi rs t. 2. Deal ers shou ld be enlis ted in the str ugg le on grounds th at th ey can accep t with grace. MIC m embership fees sho uld be arra nge d o n a progressive rather than r e gr e s siv e b asis. Fe es sh ould be propor ti on ed t o units so ld , an d should be co llec ted at the d ist ribut or lev el. 3 . A defin it e p oli cy com m i tm men t must be m ad e to resist gov ernme nt interven ti on wherever an d however it occurs. Tacti cs mu st re main flexi ble, bu t th e strategic objective must be fixe d an d clear: freed om fo r m o torcyclists t o min d their own business. 4 . The assistan ce 'o f the hund reds of thousands of co ncerned m o t o rcycli st s m u s t b e s o lici ted ; gui dance an d · coord ination m ust be p ro vid ed fo r th e many mo to rcy clists wh o are willi ng to wo rk in defense of th eir freed oms. 5. The n earl y unique stre ngth of th e m o t or c y cl e c o m m un ity must b e recognized and ex p lo ite d: m o t orcycling is one o f the very few in d ustries in which there is an y sign ifican t sh are d b ond. or co m m on interest amo ng manufacturers , re tai lers and cons umers. A t all levels of th e industry - from preliminary designers, through th e chan nels o f production and dis tnbution, th rough a series o f bi ke owners, all the way to m otorcycle wrecking y ards - a surprising number of people in the business ac tually lik e motorcycles and motorcycling. Compare any 100 other industries, and the contras t is striking. This generally shared in terest is an im portant political asset that must not be .allowed to remain idle. 6. Defensive efforts initiated by individual riders, or informal groups of riders, must be supported as fully as possibl e, by whatever means, direct or indirect , are legally permitted. 7. A secure base must be created within the motorcycle co m m unity . Editorial policy-makers of m oto rcycle magazines must b e con vinced that a vigorous defense of th e sp ort is not jus t in their own interest, not j ust in th eir adver tisers' interes t, n ot j us t in th eir re aders ' inter es t, but in the m utual interest of all concerned. Bik e-baiters and th eir ru nning dogs h ave th eir own abundan t channels of co mm unica tion ; th ey h ave n o righ t to d em and an o p portunity to undermin e m o torcy clists ' m o rale an d self-es tee m . (Continued on page 37)

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