• About Us
  • Activity
  • Advertising
  • Books
  • Business
  • Contact
  • Dashboard
  • EB5
  • Entertainment
  • feedback
  • Forgot Your Password?
  • Government
  • Home
  • Home 20723
  • Interviews
  • Login
  • Members
  • Meme generator
  • National
  • Nevada
  • Nevada News and Views
  • Newsmax
  • NN&V Ads
  • Opinion
  • Pick a New Password
  • Politics
  • Polls
  • Privacy Policy
  • Profile
  • Recent comments by me
  • Recent comments on my posts
  • Register
  • Submit post
  • Subscribe
  • Subscription Confirmation
  • Survey
  • Survey
  • Terms of Service
  • Today’s Top 10
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Travel
  • Welcome!
  • Yop Poll Archive
Nevada News and Views
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • More
    • Opinion
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Pinterest

  • RSS

Opinion

‘Don’t Tread on Me’ License Plates Become a Growing Trend in the U.S.

‘Don’t Tread on Me’ License Plates Become a Growing Trend in the U.S.
Chuck Muth
November 30, 2010

(Diane Macedo/FoxNews.com) – Fans of the Gadsden Flag may soon be able to display its familiar rattlesnake and “Don’t Tread on Me” message every time they pull out of the driveway.

At least three states — Virginia, Nevada and Texas — are weighing or have already approved proposals to add “Don’t Tread on Me” specialty license plates to their state rosters.

The Gadsden Flag, originally used by the U.S. Marine Corps during the American Revolution, was meant to represent the 13 original colonies and their battle for independence from the British monarchy. It has recently been adopted by some Tea Party groups as a message against big government.

Several supporters of the symbol say they will seek to have Gadsden plates available in other states throughout the country.

But critics say the flag’s “Don’t Tread on Me” message is political in nature, and has no place on any government-issued license plate.

In Texas, the first state to propose and approve the plates, officials said they didn’t have politics in mind, but simply getting more people interested in displaying specialty plates, which bring the state more money then regular plates.

“The Gadsden ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flag is a significant one to American and Texas history, and our market research, both formal and informal, shows that there’s a lot of interest in Texas in state history,” said Kim Miller Drummond, spokeswoman for Myplates.com, the company contracted by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to design, market and sell new specialty license plates in the state.

The plate was proposed this summer as part a flag series that also features the Texas flag and the Gonzalez “Come and Take It” flag, and will soon feature the U.S. flag, Drummond said.

The design was displayed for public comment on the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles website, then voted on by the Texas DMV board on Nov. 9.

“Generally if a plate is not deemed to be offensive to public sensibilities,” or too political, it passes, Texas DMV Public Information Officer Kim Sue Lia Perkes told FoxNews.com.

Despite its Tea Party ties, “Don’t Tread on Me” made the cut.

“‘Don’t Tread on Me’ isn’t exclusive to the Tea Party. It’s been around for a long time, so I think that the TxDMV, we would be inclined to look at it as a historical plate and not that we stepped into some kind of political debate,” Perkes said.

A commission for the sale of each plate will go to Myplates.com, with the remaining proceeds going to the DMV. But not all Texans are on board.

“Please avoid political statements on state-issued plates (‘Don’t Tread on Me’). That’s why we have bumper stickers,” one post on the DMV comments page read.

“The don’t tread on me flag has had its historical significance usurped by a movement with some extremist elements,” another said. ” I would hope that the state of Texas doesn’t lend its imprimatur to this particular plate.”

Still, backlash in Texas hasn’t stopped other states from following suit.

On Oct. 14, Virginia House Delegate John M. O’Bannon III submitted a proposal to bring “Don’t Tread on Me” plates to Virginia. Unlike revenue-sharing plates, which raise money for a specific organization, O’Bannon says any money raised by these plates will go straight to the Virginia DMV.

“Some people try to politicize it, but the nice thing about this symbol is that it has a very positive and patriotic heritage and a lot of people past the Tea Party folks think favorably of this and I think would like to have it,” O’Bannon told FoxNews.com.

With more than the 300 committed buyers required to get a plate produced, O’Bannon expects Virginians will be able to get their “Don’t Tread on Me” plates by July.

Nevada Assemblyman Ed Goedhart isn’t so sure that his proposal to bring the Gadsden flag plate to his home state will pass, but he said he plans to do whatever he can to make it happen.

In Nevada, “if you can sell over a certain number of plates, you’re allowed to have specialty license plates. So my bill would put the Gadsden flag as one of those specialty plates that would have to wait its turn to move up the list,” Goedhart told FoxNews.com.

His proposal requests a hearing for the bill during the legislature’s next session. He says he doesn’t know whether the legislature will oblige, but he hopes it will pass the bill by late February. Part of the proceeds from the plates would then go to a nonprofit group that distributes pocket-sized copies of the U.S. Constitution to high school students.

“I believe there are a lot of people that basically embrace the concepts of Constitution, limited government, fiscal responsibility and free markets that our country was based upon and I believe there are a lot of people that would like to show their solidarity with those founding values by having a plate,” Goedhart said.

A comment board on the topic shows that several supporters in other states agreed.

“I would like the symbol added to my Ohio ‘Vietnam Veteran’ plates,” blogger Edward Benson wrote.

Other comments requested the plates be offered in Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, New York, California, Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Tennessee and Oregon. One commenter, Bob Russel, said he’d already written his state representatives to ask for them in Oklahoma.

“Patriotic Oklahomans should have the option of showing their patriotism through their license plates,” Russel wrote in the letter.

For now, Gadsden fans in at least one state can start clearing off some bumper room for their new “Don’t Tread on Me” Plates.

Myplates.com hopes to release the plates in Texas on Feb. 7, Drummond says.

Prev postNext post

Related Items
Opinion
November 30, 2010
Chuck Muth

Related Items

More in Opinion

Amodei Statement on Debt Ceiling Bill

Chuck MuthJune 1, 2023
Read More

Tark: Trans “Rights” … and Wrongs

Chuck MuthMay 26, 2023
Read More

Stone: The Truth About AB 250: Will Patients Really Benefit?

NN&V StaffMay 26, 2023
Read More

“Ungrateful Miscreants”: Miller, Segerblom Insult Local Small Business Owners

NN&V StaffMay 24, 2023
Read More

Quarter-Million Dollar Ad Campaign Targets Nevada Legislators for Trapping Hispanic Families in Unsafe Schools

NN&V StaffMay 22, 2023
Read More

Nevada News & Views: May 20, 2023

NN&V StaffMay 20, 2023
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Subscribe Free By Email

Looking for the best in breaking news and conservative views? Let Chuck do all the work for you! Subscribe to his FREE "Muth's Truths" e-newsletter.

* indicates required
Nevada News and Views
Nevada News & Views is an educational project of Citizen Outreach Foundation, a non-partisan IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization. It is not associated or affiliated with any political party or group. Nevada News & Views is accessible by the public at no cost. It funds its operations through tax-deductible contributions from donors and supporters and does not accept government money or grants.

TAGS

Featured Article Muths truth

Copyright © 2023 Citizen Outreach | Maintained by VirtualAlly

Getz: What would you cut?
Clark: DREAM Act a Nightmare