By Bruce Arnold

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Fellow Riders and "Freedom Fighters":

If you don't exercise your right to vote today, you have no right to complain tomorrow!

The November elections are only a few weeks away. Soon we will finally get a merciful reprieve from the disappointing back-and-forth "lipstick politics" polluting our myopic media, and at long last we will know whether the mess We the People made by voting for Dubya twice will be inherited by "Oblabla and the Mouth" or "McSame and the Milf".

SPEAKING OF VOTING... If you have not yet registered to vote, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions about where or how to register or vote in any state, you'll find a wealth of information online at the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Voter Information Center:

http://www.eac.gov/voter

Remember that voting is not just a right: It's a responsibility. Your exercise of that right is necessary for the preservation of our freedom. If you don't exercise it, then don't ride around calling yourself a "freedom fighter".

And before you vote, I encourage you to get familiar with the real, substantive issues--not just what the cable TV talking heads are blathering about--and the political candidates' positions on those issues. Do not assume that all Democrats are liberals or anti-biker, or that all Republicans are conservatives or biker-friendly. It was, after all...

...A DEMOCRAT (U.S. Congressman Rob Andrews, NJ) who allied himself with ABATE of the Garden State in this year's noble if unsuccessful attempt to unseat Frank Lautenberg, saying "I fully support the effort to preserve the rights of the motorcycle community by opposing unnecessary federal laws that seek to constrain the liberty of riders."; and it was

...A REPUBLICAN (State Representative Carlos Lopez-Cantera, FL) who solicited the aid of ABATE of Florida's president and paid lobbyist James "Doc" Reichenbach II in sponsoring HB-137, legislation authorizing the seizure of motorcycles, threatening us with "They'll lose their bike... Their motorcycle license will be revoked for 10 years, and it's a mandatory arrest so they will go to jail."

Bikers--and all other voters, for that matter--must stop assuming that any political "label" is by itself sufficient basis for a responsible decision! The only difference I see between modern Democrats and modern Republicans, for example, is that Democrats tax and spend, leaving us with less money, while Republicans borrow and spend, leaving our money worth less. And of course, "Democrat" and "Republican" are not the only labels you need to look beyond. I can only hope I need not mention gender or race...

ONE MORE THING... Do not accept the spin and smear spewing from any political camp as gospel. And for God's sake, be skeptical about anything you read in those ridiculous chainmails that are clogging the pipes of the Internet. Snopes.com is a good place to go to separate fact from fiction:

http://www.snopes.com/

If you want to know if Obama really is the Anti-Christ, for example, simply type "obama antichrist" into their Search box and click "Go". And did John McCain admit to being a war criminal on 60 Minutes? Search Snopes.com for "mccain war criminal" to learn the truth of this matter ... and many more.

Speaking strictly for myself and no other individuals or organizations,

Bruce Arnold

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

P.S. Kudos to American Motorcyclist Association Chairman of the Board Stan Simpson for his inspiring "Building a Better AMA" article on page 16 of the September 2008 issue of American Motorcyclist magazine, in which he proclaims we can "Expect more activism by the AMA in the areas of noise reduction, access to public lands, rider discrimination, increased education and awareness, and opposition to mandates."

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LdrLongDistanceRider.com is a bikers' rights, motorcyclists' issues and long distance motorcycle riding resource for touring endurance riders and extreme cruising on bikes by Aprilia, BMW, Buell, Ducati, H-D/HD/Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Moto-Guzzi, Norton, Suzuki, Triumph, Vengeance, Victory, Yamaha and other makes.