Please Tread on Me: New Idaho license plate shows need for regulatory scrutiny

Lawmakers say they want less red tape, but pass bills that guarantee the opposite

Last legislative session, lawmakers passed and Gov. Brad Little signed a bill to create a new specialty license plate. I don’t pay much attention to license plate legislation, but this one is worthy of note.

The new law created a “Don’t Tread on Me” plate which, the statute says, “include(s) the Gadsden flag on a bright yellow background with the image of a rattlesnake and the words ‘don’t tread on me.’” You know the flag. Since the Revolutionary War, it has been used as a symbol of the bearer’s pursuit of liberty in the battle against government tyranny.

I’ve zero inclination to get this new license plate. First, I don’t see how paying extra money to the government for a license plate screams “freedom from tyranny.” If anything, freedom ordinarily means being able to pay less to the government, not more. Ideally for the government to not tread on …