What does A.B.A.T.E. stand for?

The name ABATE was hardly chosen by a Madison Avenue focus group. It sounds a little mean and subversive.

ABATE is an acronym for "A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments." Sounds so much like "subversive" that some chapters of the organization in other places have modified the name to variations such as American Bikers Aimed Toward Education or A Brotherhood Active Toward Education.

But, we think our name really does describe the focus of something that we really care about.

What is a Totalitarian Enactment?

It'll get a little wordy here but . . . . A Totalitarian Enactment might be defined as the imposition of requirements on a particular group of people that are not necessarily founded in reason, knowledge or principle, but justified arbitrarily by pure will of political authorities or expedient impositions by often concerned, but uninformed citizens not conscious of the full ramifications of all that they wish to impose. Some of these authorities see the American people as subordinates rather than it being their role to work on our behalf.

On the surface, this concern may sound a little extreme to some, but our forefathers were wise enough to design and create a structure to support liberties granted to us by an authority beyond that of man or certainly government. It is these liberties that have allowed the greatest country in the world to thrive and grow for more than 200 years. Many people have given their lives in honor of the ideals of our forefathers. We must be sure that we appreciate what we have been given and must not be blind to incremental encroachments into the essence of what has given us what we have.

These are principles that go far beyond the issues that are important to only motorcyclists. This is why ABATE membership is not limited to just motorcycle riders.

We expect that our individual liberties in all areas will be respected and that we must return this respect to others. Where one's rights appear to conflict with another's, intelligent resolution is usually possible starting with gathering information from sources that are credible. [such as...] We must be careful of resolutions created by sheer force of numbers. We must respect individuals. As Ayn Rand said: "the smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities".