Specialty license plates

Specialty license plates are about as special as tattoo print T-shirts and social-cause bracelets.

Just about everyone has one these days. Whatever novelty the plates once enjoyed is long gone. The surest way to tell: The number of knockoffs keeps growing.

Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, has the latest, greatest idea for a specialty license plate. He announced Friday that he'll introduce legislation requiring the Department of Motor Vehicles to manufacture plates recognizing the Tea Party movement.

"The Tea Party movement isn't so much a political party movement as it is a revitalization of our nation's founding spirit regarding the limited role government should play in our lives and the embrace of state sovereignty and individual freedom," Mr. Goedhart said. "It is as American as apple pie."

We share much of Mr. Goedhart's enthusiasm for the Constitution, but he's putting the cart before the horse here.

Specialty plates are more expensive than standard ones because they benefit nonprofits and charities. Mr. Goedhart wants the proceeds from the Tea Party plate -- it would show the "Don't Tread on Me" Gadsden flag that serves as the movement's unofficial symbol -- to be used to purchase and distribute copies of the Constitution to the public. But he has no nonprofit group lined up to carry out the mission.

By law, the DMV can produce no more than 25 plates at a time -- those that don't sell well are canceled -- and even if Mr. Goedhart's bill were passed, his plate would have to fall in line behind others yet to debut.

Politics and license plates don't mix well to begin with, as evidenced by legal battles over anti-abortion specialty plates and ones depicting the Confederate flag. And the DMV routinely censors vanity plates, which allow vehicle owners to create their own message, provided the state doesn't deem it offensive.

There are too many types of license plates in Nevada as it is. As more enter production in Nevada and other states, the greater the likelihood that a plate's state of origin can't be determined at a glance.

How about legislation that creates a 10-year moratorium on new specialty plates? That's a more fitting tribute to the tea party movement.