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Is that a reason to not try?

It takes time to build a grass-roots organization, but also, in today's hyper-connected world, less time and less money than ever before, if you are right on the issues and have credibility. I'm most familiar with what we did in Minnesota, but there are dozens of examples of organizations that...

If it is a grass-roots, outside-the-beltway effort you have much more freedom. If you can articulate a small number (no more than three) issues that resonate with the masses, you don't have to worry much about what the existing players say or do. Just build the organization and call on state and...

Forget about the name "Truckers for Safety." I just checked truckersforsafety.com. OOIDA already has it.

Support from all sides is difficult to obtain. And even if it is possible, various groups may withhold it because they are jealous of their place in the sandbox. The trick is not to get everybody on board, just enough. Also, support attracts support. A small group can get some attention. As it...

I wouldn't worry about that too much, Cheri. Most Americans heard little or nothing about the strike, and what they did hear has long since been forgotten. It got more coverage in the trucking press but made zero public impact. The strike itself got more air time and column inches before it...

This is not my area of expertise. Nor have I looked into the unpaid time issues many truckers face. That said, I wonder if existing labor laws might be brought to bear, at least for company (employee) drivers. As for independent contractors who willingly bend over and take it while grumbling...

In what wasy was stress put on the system? On our truck, the SlushBusters put no stress on the system. What little stress that is exerted when the wiper blade passes over the SlushBuster is absorbed by the give that happens in the rubber wiper blade when it passes over. See the photo below...

What idea or mechanism could be used to actually make it happen? While lots of people may rally around the issue, what changes would need to be made in the law or industry to actually make it happen that truckers got fully compensated for the hours in which they are detained?

In 1992, I founded the Independence Party of Minnesota. It changed its name to the Reform Party a few years later before Ventura was elected and then back to Independence Party when the party and Ventura split from the national Reform Party. It continues today.

How does $250 in parts come from SlushBuster use?

When I think about lobbying, I'm not thinking about something that goes on in Washington. I'm thinking about something that can be much more powerful and effective. When an elected official receives an e-mail, it counts for little. Form letters signed by constituients that were obviously...

A lot more thinking and writing needs to be done to pull this off. One thought, that might be good or bad, would to make the Driver's Training agenda item really disruptive by adding the notion that the training must be given, not by motor carriers, but by bona fide driver training schools...

That's key; to rally truckers behind a group of issues, the issues must be about the things that affect truckers directly. Whether you are Tea Party or a flaming liberal, it bites to get charged CSA points when a car hits your truck and you are in no way at fault. The closer to home you make the...

The first step in developing a fundamental strategy is to develop a fundamental set of issues around which to organize truckers and press the common agenda. Activism strategies that work are well known. Those can be easily developed simply by looking at any politial organization that succeeds in...

Well, we're off to a good start. More discussion is needed but let's talk more about one of the top three issues to be included in a suggested trucker agenda: Driver's Training. Open to other ideas, I'm going to go with three months classroom, one month practice driving and two months...

Yes. A Trailer Tail can be legally added to a 40' straight truck.

That is a good approach, but how do you make it work if you are operating under the new point system FCC imposed? Trucks that say yes to loads (profitable or unprofitable) get points that elevate them in the que of trucks for the next load. Trucks that decline loads get no points. This means...

People said the same thing when Diane and I entered the industry without experience. They predicted our failure because we did not know what experienced truckers knew. But look at us today. We are rather successful, thank you. People said the same thing when I founded a new political party in...

Well, let's give it a try. Check out this thread.