15 Photos
The State You're In: 15 License Plates That Speak
It used to be we'd slap whatever the state handed us on our bumpers, but that's such efficient use of tax dollars. That
all changed in 1977, when a family of Jehovah's Witnesses taped over the "Live Free or Die" part of their New Hampshire license plate, claiming it violated their free speech rights. The case went to the Supreme Court, which decided it was unconstitutional to force individuals, or their cars, to be "mobile billboards." Of course, if you can't force 'em, you can't stop 'em.
So here we are, 22 years later with a license plate for everyone. This week Florida gave drivers a new option — Jesus on the cross. When Florida governor Charlie Crist was asked about the breach of church and state, he said, "If they don’t want one they don’t have to buy one."
But what can we buy?
Butterfly
Bloch
Hush Puppies
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17 Comments Post a Comment
Honestly, my fave everyday plate is the D.C. plate. I love the "Taxation without Representation" bit. It's just such a cranky license plate.
1That was great! I had no idea there were so many license plate options!
2I've always like the Callifornia Whales license plate, not enough to pay for one.
3I love having the choices. We currently have the 9/11 rememberence one for our state.
4There is no breach of church and state with Florida's tag. The government is not requiring the citizen to purchase that tag. It is only making it a choice. The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..". It does not say a thing about "separation of church and state". That statement is taken from a letter Jefferson wrote well after the Bill of Rights were written. And it has been taken in and out of context for 200 years.
5Totally hilarious.
6Wow. Having a crucified Christ on your license plate really says everything about someone. Classy.
799% of them are absolutely ridiculous. Nothing like putting your ignorance out there for everyone to see. Until they make one that says
8"Religious Freaks are Destroying the World", I'll have to pass.
Oh, and the Choose Life one really pisses me off. How about "Keep your god out of My Vagina!?" I think christians/mormons/catholics etc. better get used to the fact that Atheists and other non believers aren't in the closet anymore. We're not in hiding and we're not ashamed. We are pissed and ready to stand up for our rights. We don't turn the other cheek either! ; )
9Okay... this is a joke, right? Or can you actually buy them?
10Some of these are so inappropriate.
11@tlsgirl I love it when people ask to me to explain my DC plates. It usually ends with an "oh..."
12DC plates are my favorite. gotta love the snarkiness
13Did anyone else notice that Oklahoma had more weird license plates in this sample? Just an observation. . .
14Hilarious that you made fun of the Gold Star Parent one. Yeah...
15Very nice site!
16I always thought having Texas plates that claim we are the friendship state was a bit of a stretch when we execute as many people as we do. (They are specialty plates, only saw a few some years back; "Texas" = "Tejas" = means friend.) I much prefer our "The Lone Star State" normal ones, complete with space shuttles, oil rigs and cowboys (don't say we Texans can't throw a cliche or ten in with everything we do).
I also find the yellow Florida plates with the words "choose life" to be an oxymoron, but then I'm not too fond of Florida.
'Course a picture of the Crucifixion and the words "sunshine state" are a bit oxymoronic,
too. Sheesh people.
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