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The Examiner's Michael Neibauer reports today that the D.C. Council is considering requiring all license plates issued by the District Department of Motor Vehicles to be the 'Taxation Without Representation' version. Currently, residents may request a license plate from the DMV that bears the city's web site url, “www.dc.gov,” instead of the voting rights slogan.
The story predictably quotes voting rights rabble rouser Mark Plotkin saying he thinks making the plate mandatory is the right thing to do, but fails to address the most obvious question in our minds — will the slogan still carry the same weight in the event the DC Voting Rights Act, which was reintroduced in the House and Senate yesterday, is passed?
It's an issue that places voting rights pragmatists who have been pushing the current bill versus those who think settling for only one House member amounts to agreeing that the District deserves less than full representation. If the bill passes, District residents would still be being taxed without representation in the Senate, but we would no longer be able to claim that we have zero representation in Congress.
Would you support changing the slogan if the current bill passes? Or would bothering to point out that we have Taxation With 1/3 Representation just look ridiculous?
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trying to deal with stuff like this in the middle of a fluid situation (our representation status) is patently ridiculous. jesus h. christ, if the council doesn't have enough to do, then they should all just go out to a movie or something.
Nothing says democratic idealism like forced political speech! Yay hypocrisy!
I'm all about congressional representation and all, but seriously, get a hobby city council. I suggest needlepoint, weight lifting, or any of the traditional means of achieving nirvana.
Making the license plates themselves could be a terrific hobby for idle hands. Of course, you need to serve a prison term to get a job like that. I'd see it as a real forward thinking move from our current DC Council.
I'd support a DC license plate that says "Suck My Oil, Fools!". It's immune to the outcome of the voting rights legislation. Plus, it expresses my views on most topics in a clearer manner than the current license plate slogan.
If I had a car. I'd have a license plate that read:
DC This Space for Rent
or DC Home of Out-of-Towners
not all of us are out-of-towners. i'm a lifer, and, bizarrely enough, have three other dear friends in my group who are too.
"...in your group"?!
Not that DC government usually cares about such things, but such a move would probably be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled over 30 years ago that a state cannot force a citizen to broadcast a message on a license plate --
"A system which secures the right to proselytize religious, political, and ideological causes must also guarantee the concomitant right to decline to foster such concepts. The right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of the broader concept of 'individual freedom of mind.'
. . .
"[W]here the State's interest is to disseminate an ideology, no matter how acceptable to some, such interest cannot outweigh an individual's First Amendment right to avoid becoming the courier for such message." Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705 (1977)
was that Live Free or Die in NH?
But DC isn't a state. If it was there would be no need for the slogan in the first place.
That seems weird to me, since New Hampshire still requires the "Live Free Or Die" slogan, no alternatives. (They were debating allowing an alternative motto recently; is nothing sacred?) So I looked it up.
Apparently, prior to Wooley v. Maynard, New Hampshire also made it illegal to cover up the "Live Free Or Die" slogan in any way. Wooley tried to do it and kept getting tickets. After the Supreme Court slapped New Hampshire down, they amended the law so that it was legal to cover up the slogan, and that passed muster with the Supremes. DC law, on the other hand, doesn't prohibit covering up the slogan, so I'm guessing that, of the reasons why this bill probably won't become law, Constitutional concerns aren't anywhere near the top of the list.
(Disclaimer: in the past, I have had reason to work with the Department of Motor Vehicles in a professional capacity, which is how I came to know things like the rules on displaying license plates, and I may do so again in the future. Any opinions above are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer, the Department of Motor Vehicles, or Monkeyrotica.)
i seem to remember a similar case with the lobster that used to be on maine plates. someone got in trouble for obscuring the little red crustacean's image.
Really? I can understanding objecting to "Taxation Without Representation" on partisan grounds, and I can understand objecting to "Live Free Or Die" on grounds of craven cowardice, but who objects to a picture of a lobster? Do they even have Haredim in Maine?
kentucky used to have a horriid license plate that had a smiling sun underneath a rainbow and read, "it's that friendly." people hated it so much they were gone within a year, but in the meantime, most placed stickers over the sun, mainly of their favorite sports team. as far as i know, there weren't any repercussions from doing so.
jesus h. christ, if the council doesn't have enough to do, then they should all just go out to a movie or something.
Yeah, I kind of agree with you. Here's a little something to get them started:
How about a new law that automatically and permanently revokes the taxi license of anyone operating a cab that has "dealer" tags.
Or a law that says any DC auto dealership must have proof of a passed DC inspection before issuing a temporary tag for any vehicle.
Or a law that says that any auto older than five years old that is sporting a "dealer" tag will be confiscated, crushed, and melted down into No Parking signs.
"Not that DC government usually cares about such things, but such a move would probably be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled over 30 years ago that a state cannot force a citizen to broadcast a message on a license plate --"
washingtonydc: It's not so much a slogan advertising a political cause, but rather, a fact. I don't think anyone could argue that DC is taxed and does not have representation in Congress. It's pretty much equivalent to Florida having a statement on their license plates saying: "We have orange trees here!"
Good grief! Don't these asswipes on the City Council have any idea what a shithole this city has become? Employees are embezzling money from right under our noses, we're operating in a deficit, murders and assaults are on the rise (I could go on) ... but their answer to everything is mandating what's on my license plate? Go ahead, I'll just buy the biggest bottle of white out and create my own message. You'd think that renaming part of South Capitol Street would have gotten their rocks off.
p.s. my irritation while composing this post was exacerbated by the fact that my browser kept crashing ... can't wait for all the bugs to be fixed on the dcist site.
I personally would like DC to give us a greater choice of license plates like VA does. I have kept transferring my old plates over to each newer car because I don’t like the current places as much as the Celebrate and Discover plates. This would be a great way for DC to raise more money by charging for the plates. I would like a ‘Bitch Set Me Up’ plate with the starting letters MB and would gladly pay $100 extra for it.
With a large budget deficits facing DC, tons of crime, failing schools and other problems this may just be the time for the council to debate this important issue.
If they made a "Bitch set me up!" license plate, I would totally move to DC and register my car in the city.
Maybe.
The dealer I bought my car from handled the registration process, and we ended up with the www tags instead of the Taxation tags for some reason. So if Jim Graham wants to pony up the $15 or whatever fee, and stand in line at the DMV so I can have Taxation plates, then I'm all for it.
And I'm 100% for voting representation in congress, but I'd prefer the constitutional type, not this half-ass solution that Sherlock Holmes-Norton and DC Vote are shoving down our throats and wasting our time and tax dollars on. It's sure to be shot down by the Supreme Court, anyway.
I totally agree! Virginia seems to have a commemorative license plate for just about every cause or organization (even Maryland has a couple of different ones). DC will have just the Taxation Without Representation tags. Given the budget deficit, shouldn't they offer a bunch more license plate options to raise some money? Nah. That would only make sense and not be as good a Grahamstanding event as this lame-ass idea.
Agreed. Mid Atlantic Leather Weekend commemorative plates are long overdue. Those alone would fund the DC schools.
I bought a beautiful sofa on sale at Mid Atlantic Leather back in the late 1970s, when they were still located downtown.
Brilliant - how long have these tags been in production? At least 10 years. They've been very effective.
When I drive to Jersey and NY, people ask me about my tags like it's some kind of I'm-a-leper label. Garden State, Empire State, Taxation without Representation.
We might as well try to put it on our state quarter.
Oh wait!
I vote that the official DC license plate slogan be "Wind Me Up Chuck."
That is all.
would this force all the obama vehicles to have this slogan on them?
If we're going to plaster our license plates with historical quotes that mean aboslutely nothing to today's under-educated masses, I say we go with something fun and whimsical.
Let's try "Tie me kangaroo down, sport." Yeah, that'll do it!
I want a Jim Traficant commemorative plate. "Beam Me Up Scotty."
But, our Council's main hobby is empty posturing. It's not that they need a hobby. It's that they need a new hobby.
Where do you get 1/3? We get to vote for President. That's 1/3. The President picks the Supreme Court with approval of the Senate. That's at least 1/6. The House would give us another 1/6. I count that as 2/3 up from 1/2.
Dear WashCycle,
1/3 comes from the fact that the DC House Voting Rights Act will provide the residents of Washington, DC with one representative in House, but denies the residents of Washington, DC two Senators. Thus the residents will be 1/3 represented in Congress, and federal taxation comes from Congress, not the president.
In case you haven't seen it yet, I already redesigned the license plate to reflect possible change if the unconstitutional act is passed. It was also mentioned on the Kojo show when Sommer was a guest, and I must say that I'm thankful to Sommer for calling the bill what it is, 1/3 representation. For what it's worth, I've also redesigned the DC flag as well.
I think DC plates should be emblazoned with:
"Why do I live in this hellhole?!"