We’re preparing to embark on a new adventure that combines our love of motorcycling and meeting new people to foster greater understanding among Americans divided along political lines.
With the midterms approaching, we’re heading out on two wheels to talk with Americans about their feelings on democracy and the electoral process.
This new “civic journey” starts with the first RIDE for America, a Team Democracy project launching Oct. 4 in Western North Carolina, with Postindustrial Founder Carmen Gentile designing and leading the ride.
For several years now, Team Democracy has brought together Americans of all political perspectives around their commitment to the core principles of our constitutional democracy.
Want to join us? Sign up for our Western North Carolina motorcycle ride here!
In years past, Team Democracy hosted whitewater rafting events across the country. RAFT (Reuniting Americans by Fostering Trust) placed participants with widely different viewpoints and perspectives in whitewater rafts, where they worked together to navigate challenging rapids and the difficult conversations Americans are finding harder and harder to have.
Now, they are hosting a motorcycle ride that brings together people from opposite sides of the political aisle to share a day of riding and conversation aimed at narrowing our divides. The event extends Team Democracy’s already successful RAFT for America model, which does the same but while whitewater rafting.
For Gentile, the partnership fits the arc of his career. He has long used motorcycles as a reporting tool and a way to open conversations that might not happen otherwise.
Postindustrial has already showcased that approach in its storytelling project exploring America by motorcycle amid the COVID pandemic. That blend of adventure and human exchange is now at the center of RIDE for America.
This new initiative is built around a simple but ambitious idea: if people can share a road, they may be more willing to share an honest conversation.
The Ronin Motorcycle Club is not your stereotypical outlaw bikers. Rather, the MC is a small group of bikers who love the thrill of long-distance rides, doing charity work in support of causes including lupus and domestic violence awareness, and just hanging out together.
Justin Merriman
RIDE for America will bring together riders from different political backgrounds for a full day of connection, beginning with conversations before the ride, continuing at stops along a 100-mile route through the Smoky Mountains, and ending with a broader host-community discussion.
Team Democracy describes it as a way to break down barriers and build trust among people with different life experiences and perspectives.
According to Team Democracy co-founder Ken Powley, “Events like these show us what we are capable of. They remind us that what connects us is far greater than what separates us. And they chip away at the polarization that leaves us fearful of difficult conversations – with family members, neighbors, co-workers, and other acquaintances.”
The inaugural RIDE (Riders Inspiring Dialogue and Empathy) will focus on trust in elections, a subject with immediate urgency just weeks before the midterms. Participants will explore what builds trust, what weakens it, how local election systems become more visible and understandable, and what communities can do to strengthen confidence in the process. This focus gives the event a practical edge: it is not only about conversation for its own sake, but about making a contested civic issue more civil.
Western North Carolina is a fitting setting for the launch. The region’s winding roads, mountain views, and strong riding culture create a natural backdrop for a program built on movement and dialogue. And with North Carolina being a hotly contested swing state with close races heading into the midterms and 2028, it is the ideal locale for the inaugural RIDE for America mission.
Team Democracy’s premise, carried forward through Postindustrial Media’s storytelling, is that trust grows when people encounter one another outside familiar media bubbles, partisan identities, and social routines.
As Powley says, “America has always been deeply divided – since day one. And it always will be. This isn’t about eliminating or whitewashing our differences. We just happen to believe that democracy is the best way to manage our differences, and being able to discuss differences thoughtfully is the foundational skill that makes democracy work.”
A motorcycle ride cannot solve political and social polarization on its own, but it can create the conditions for people to listen to one another. And that’s the goal.
