While listening to Cowboy Nation's song "Way Out West" the other day, I was struck by how much the bikers visiting last week's Sturgis motorcycle rally are like the cowboys of the Old West.
The song's lyrics - "We're not living on our knees/and we do as we please" - while written to describe the cowboy life, also seem to perfectly encapsulate the biker culture.
And how essentially American bikers are.
"We do as we please" is just another way of saying what is our inalienable right as Americans: the pursuit of happiness.
Bikers are just more emphatic and flamboyant about pursuing happiness than most people.
How are bikers and cowboys alike?
Cowboys do as they please; so do bikers.
Cowboys go where they please; so do bikers.
Cowboys have their horses; bikers have their motorcycles.
Cowboys have their distinct style of clothing; so do bikers.
Cowboys work hard for their living; so do bikers.
Cowboys often frequent saloons; so do bikers.
Cowboys listen to country and western music; bikers listen to rock music (same thing, but different).
Where there are cowboys, there are cowgirls; where there are bikers, there are women, who may or may not be bikers themselves.
There are good guys and bad guys among cowboys; same with bikers.
In fact, you could say the same thing about all Americans.
We are so much alike in many ways.
Choosing to live the lifestyle of a cowboy or a biker is what being an American is all about. We do as we please.
Why do people come to America? In America - more so than any other nation on the planet - we are free to do as we please.
There are plenty of opportunities in all parts of the world. But there's a reason why so many people want to leave where they were born to come to the United States. Nowhere else but in the U.S. is the land of opportunity so wedded to the pursuit of happiness.
Our official motto is "In God we trust." Our unofficial motto might be: "We do as we please."
Maybe that's why you see so many American flags flying from motorcycles or waving at rally events.
Freedom is the most precious element in the American way of life. And freedom is increasingly under assault today.
One reason behind the discontentment many Americans have felt recently is that every "reform" proposed by Washington includes significant loss of freedom.
Health care, cap-and-trade, financial, etc., proposals all have at their core a surrender of our freedom to make our own decisions to government bureaucrats - who increasingly resemble playground monitors who won't allow anyone to play because they might harm themselves or others.
Scraping a knee in childhood pursuits of happiness is part of growing up.
The pursuits of happiness become bigger and more expensive as you become an adult, but the chance of failure is always present.
That's life.
While our "betters" in Washington "Tsk, tsk" at us, we're thinking "Go away."
This is the summer of our discontent. All we want is to be left alone.
Left alone to do as we please.
The song's lyrics - "We're not living on our knees/and we do as we please" - while written to describe the cowboy life, also seem to perfectly encapsulate the biker culture.
And how essentially American bikers are.
"We do as we please" is just another way of saying what is our inalienable right as Americans: the pursuit of happiness.
Bikers are just more emphatic and flamboyant about pursuing happiness than most people.
How are bikers and cowboys alike?
Cowboys do as they please; so do bikers.
Cowboys go where they please; so do bikers.
Cowboys have their horses; bikers have their motorcycles.
Cowboys have their distinct style of clothing; so do bikers.
Cowboys work hard for their living; so do bikers.
Cowboys often frequent saloons; so do bikers.
Cowboys listen to country and western music; bikers listen to rock music (same thing, but different).
Where there are cowboys, there are cowgirls; where there are bikers, there are women, who may or may not be bikers themselves.
There are good guys and bad guys among cowboys; same with bikers.
In fact, you could say the same thing about all Americans.
We are so much alike in many ways.
Choosing to live the lifestyle of a cowboy or a biker is what being an American is all about. We do as we please.
Why do people come to America? In America - more so than any other nation on the planet - we are free to do as we please.
There are plenty of opportunities in all parts of the world. But there's a reason why so many people want to leave where they were born to come to the United States. Nowhere else but in the U.S. is the land of opportunity so wedded to the pursuit of happiness.
Our official motto is "In God we trust." Our unofficial motto might be: "We do as we please."
Maybe that's why you see so many American flags flying from motorcycles or waving at rally events.
Freedom is the most precious element in the American way of life. And freedom is increasingly under assault today.
One reason behind the discontentment many Americans have felt recently is that every "reform" proposed by Washington includes significant loss of freedom.
Health care, cap-and-trade, financial, etc., proposals all have at their core a surrender of our freedom to make our own decisions to government bureaucrats - who increasingly resemble playground monitors who won't allow anyone to play because they might harm themselves or others.
Scraping a knee in childhood pursuits of happiness is part of growing up.
The pursuits of happiness become bigger and more expensive as you become an adult, but the chance of failure is always present.
That's life.
While our "betters" in Washington "Tsk, tsk" at us, we're thinking "Go away."
This is the summer of our discontent. All we want is to be left alone.
Left alone to do as we please.