In Other Auto-Related News...

Jesse Walker | June 28, 2005

I thought I might have been hallucinating when I saw one of these on the highway last weekend, but apparently the State of Maryland issues Libertarian Party license plates.

Comments

Franklin Harris|6.28.05 @ 11:35AM|#

Irony... killing... me...

|6.28.05 @ 11:36AM|#

I think that's a sign of the apocalypse.

Brian Marks|6.28.05 @ 11:43AM|#

If you get caught drinking and driving, do you lose your ability to be a libertarian?

|6.28.05 @ 12:01PM|#

Does having one of those plates constitute probable cause for searching the car for pot?

|6.28.05 @ 12:09PM|#

Post Caballes, I believe the fact that it's a car constitutes probable cause to search a car for pot.

|6.28.05 @ 12:10PM|#

I know what thoreau's getting when he moves out there.

|6.28.05 @ 12:12PM|#

Does having one of those plates constitute probable cause for searching the car for pot?

Brilliant.

James Anderson Merritt|6.28.05 @ 12:43PM|#

Yeah, having an LP License Plate is sort of like having an LP collar and leash. Now, if the plate said something like, "DMV delenda est," there might be less irony, but more pathos.

Jeff|6.28.05 @ 12:52PM|#

On the subject of probable cause:
There is a house not too far from me with a tall wooden fence around it. The fence is festooned with assorted Grateful Dead banners and flags featuring pot leaves. In front sit several cars without tires, each sporting a number of drug and alcohol related bumper stickers. The lawn is uncut and wild (non-narcotic) weeds grow everywhere.
How, under US law, is there not "probable cause" to raid this place? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, here. I really want to know.

|6.28.05 @ 1:10PM|#

Where do you live again, Jeff?

Anon

|6.28.05 @ 1:16PM|#

Ironic for such a shithole yankee state ...
Now Virginia, with its historical roots in classical-liberals, the Framers and the Culpeper Minutemen...thats a Libertarian state --- err...rather it was.

|6.28.05 @ 1:20PM|#

It is not that ironic...

Having a Libertarian licence plate is a lot like writing "Fuck Prison" on the wall of your cell... or having a commercial for a weight loss program on the "Food Network".

In a lot of ways it is entirely appropriate.

|6.28.05 @ 1:24PM|#

Rex,

I believe that according to your argument a Libertarian _bumper sticker_ would be appropriate, not a license plate.

Anon

|6.28.05 @ 1:37PM|#

or having a commercial for a weight loss program on the "Food Network".

Actually they have a whole show on it now. I watched the first two minutes, which was a tease for the rest of the show, in which three fat Asian chicks were supposed to try to lose 20 or so pounds in three months.

I think they might do better to have a show where three anorexiacs have to gain 20 pounds.

|6.28.05 @ 1:37PM|#

This reminds me of Sam Kinnison's observation regarding Rockers against Drugs (RAD) that..."you can't have rock stars against drug use - that's like Christians against Christ!"

David Woycechowsky|6.28.05 @ 1:45PM|#

Jeff:

Same reason that Rush Limbaugh's "mystrerious" hearing loss did not entitle the feds to immediately move in and seize his med records. probable cause is a tough standard.

Tough probable cause standards are a good thing, too. It helps keep police from turning into crooked thugs.

|6.28.05 @ 1:46PM|#

Given the libertarian sympathies of many police officers, I wonder if this plate would actually be beneficial in certain contexts.

Anon

The Owner's Manual|6.28.05 @ 1:47PM|#

"Presently, LP plates are only available for automobiles."

How unlibertarian of those elitists. I demand one for my clothes dryer, my riding mower, and my Murphy bed.

Alla|6.28.05 @ 1:50PM|#

Libertarian sympathies of police officers? Really? I was just about to say, at least based on those I have encountered, I'd be suprised if they knew what a libertarian was.

|6.28.05 @ 2:00PM|#

I'd like to get a libertarian license for my fish, Eric.

Mike H.|6.28.05 @ 2:05PM|#

I'd like a Libertarian License to Kill.

Then I'd immediately turn on most, if not all, of you.

Wooo|6.28.05 @ 2:05PM|#

I think it is a conspiracy to tip off the cops that there is a nut behind the wheel.

Mike H.|6.28.05 @ 2:09PM|#

Congratulations, Wooo, you just made the list.

You shall be my first victim.

Jeff|6.28.05 @ 2:16PM|#

How long before we need a license just to BE a Libertarian? However, it would sound cool:
"today our guest is Licensed Libertarian Jesse Walker..."

Anon, I live in CT.

jimmy|6.28.05 @ 2:36PM|#

mo...i assure you, you don't NEED a license for eric the fish. however, you may need one for eric the half-a-bee.

|6.28.05 @ 2:48PM|#

Given the libertarian sympathies of many police officers

Um, exactly which ones would that be? The ones raiding someone's home for growing pot? The ones stopping drivers at "sobriety" roadblocks? The ones posing as prostitutes to catch unwary johns? The ones arresting doctors who "over-prescribe" pain medications? The ones who pull someone over for a minor violation as a pretext to search the car for drugs? The ones who go after some suffering cancer patient's treatment of choice?

If these are our sympathizers then we are in even worse shape than I thought.

|6.28.05 @ 3:14PM|#

In Colorado you get a choice between the regular plate or the pro-life "respect life" plate.

|6.28.05 @ 3:33PM|#

why is it ironic. Libertarians are against license plates?. If so then those people are nuts who do a great disservice to any reasonable person with libertarian sympathies who does not want to be associated with anarchists.

Mike H.|6.28.05 @ 3:44PM|#

Hence my offer of outrageous and irrational violence.

|6.28.05 @ 3:48PM|#

Exactly, friendofliberty, the plates are not ironic at all. It is, after all, a voluntary issue. I f somebody wants to self-identify their political party on their license plates, then more power to them. It is their individual choice. Since when did everbody on this forum start becoming judgemental of other people's choices? This is a distinctly anti-libertarian stand. Now, if the government were forcing us to identify our political preference on the license plates, that would obviously be antoher issue. However, they are not, so let's stop our haughty and disdainful attitudes, shall we?

|6.28.05 @ 3:52PM|#

In Soviet Russia, license plate issues you.

|6.28.05 @ 4:01PM|#

it seems ironic and therefore unlibertarian because one is relying on government to publicly identify one's political preferences

also, not sure how they run things in MD, but in FL, they charge extra money for the specialty plates, and the money goes to a particular cause. using gubmint to raise money for properly private concerns also seems unlibertarian

|6.28.05 @ 4:20PM|#

biologist,

Sorry chum, but you're missing the bigger picture- getting this license plate is an INDIVIDUAL choice that does not harm other individuals. That, I feel, is the core of Libertarianism. If I wanted other people to judge me for my actions (i.e. calling me out for spending $35 on a government issued good that benefits a group chosen by the government), then I would join one of the statist parties.

The Wine Commonsewer|6.28.05 @ 4:30PM|#

I thought I'd be the first to let my libertarian friends in Md in on the big secret. They already knew about the plates (apparently they've been available for a couple of years). They also have been reluctant to put what amounts to a Kick Me sign on their cars.

I have to agree with that. It's like having an Insured by Smith & Wesson bumper sticker or a big pot leaf in the back window with a multihued legend that reads Grow In Peace.

Just asking for a broken taillight stop.

|6.28.05 @ 4:31PM|#

friendofliberty and Swede,
I believe the irony is the implicit support of forced registration of cars (which many see as an unlibertarian idea*).

* I put it as many because if there were all private roads, the vast majority would require an identifier (or registration) so that the owner would know who to charge for usage as well as who to punish for breaking their rules of the road.

|6.28.05 @ 4:53PM|#

I don't even have a license plate.

Now that's libertarian bitches!

|6.28.05 @ 5:26PM|#

Jeff: On the subject of probable cause:

There is a house not too far from me with a tall wooden fence around it. The fence is festooned with assorted Grateful Dead banners and flags featuring pot leaves. In front sit several cars without tires, each sporting a number of drug and alcohol related bumper stickers. The lawn is uncut and wild (non-narcotic) weeds grow everywhere.

How, under US law, is there not "probable cause" to raid this place? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, here. I really want to know.

Dude, you are so transparent. You just actually described your own place, didn't you?

Mike H.|6.28.05 @ 5:29PM|#

*Wonders if it's 'un-libertarian' of him to take out the choke as to fit more shells into the shotgun...*

Highway|6.29.05 @ 10:40AM|#

I'm guessing it's kind of like gun registration: this way, the government will know where you are when they finally get the cover for their plan to round up all those troublemakers.

I think I'll stay (mostly) anonymous...