Passes & Canyons Blog

The Mongols are in the news this week, although I’m certain they would prefer not to be.

All that chrome

For those of you who don’t live in the states where the busts took place, and may not have heard, the Mongols are a biker gang and a number of their members have been arrested and charged with “murder, attempted murder, assault, as well as gun and drug violations.”

To tell you the truth, until this news story broke I had never heard of the Mongols. Everyone has heard of the Hell’s Angels, the Sons of Silence are well known around here, but the Mongols? Who knew?

Of course the reason I’m mentioning them here is the motorcycle connection. We’re bikers, they’re bikers. Need we say more?

So what I’m wondering is why “motorcycle clubs,” which is less of a pejorative term than “biker gangs,” so often seem to end up in the business of murder, attempted murder, assault, as well as gun and drug violations. I mean, you never hear about car clubs — you know, Corvette clubs, antique car clubs, whatever — getting busted for these things. You never hear of UNIX user groups, or stock investing clubs, or RV clubs getting into this. Why biker, excuse me, motorcycle clubs?

Of course, there’s the outlaw image. Which came first, the outlaw image or the outlaw behavior? The biker mystique in this country is definitely based on freedom. Being out on the road without the constraints of Joe Average, not tied to all the societal taboos that so many people accept. But that’s not really true, to a large extent. We all know that most of the guys with ponytails and earrings and tattoos also have mortgages, wives, kids, and go to work five days a week.

Still, the political leanings of a large percentage of bikers is definitely libertarian. “As long as I’m not hurting someone else, let me do what I want. Don’t hassle me.” I subscribe to that philosophy myself, whole-heartedly. Heck, I’m a registered Libertarian. But murder, attempted murder, and assault don’t fit into my scheme of things. People do get hurt when you do those things.

Of course, the guns and drugs go hand in hand with the violence. If you have lots of cash on hand, or drugs worth a lot of money, other bad guys will want to take them from you. The Libertarian approach (that’s with a capital L) would be to legalize the drugs and take the profit motive away. Then if you want to kill yourself with heroin that’s your choice. But nobody’s going to kill you to take your heroin from you.

I’ve gotten a long way from motorcycles, which is supposed to be what this blog is about. Let’s see if I can wrap up and pull this all together. This is stream of consciousness, you understand.

Why do biker gangs deal drugs? Heck, why does anybody deal drugs? It’s a (somewhat) easy way to make a lot of money. I think that’s really what it comes to. If someone could make more money even easier doing something legal, they probably would, wouldn’t they? And any time free from having a job gives you more time to ride. And all that money allows you to buy that high-priced Harley and spend a ton more on all that chrome and paint.

So that’s the answer. Lay the blame at the door of Harley-Davidson!! Biker gangs sell drugs to feed their Harley addiction! Someone needs to have a talk with Willie G.

Biker Quote for Today

Most motorcycle problems are caused by the nut that connects the handlebars to the saddle.