Wisconsin drivers who want to express themselves as “AER0TK” on their license plates are out of luck—the Department of Transportation has a growing list of nearly 8,000 potential vanity license plates deemed inappropriate for use.
The problem with this system is that the list of censored plates are a result of the DoT’s subjective filters. They have blocked “PACKSUX,” “VIKESUK,” “BEARSUK” and LIONSUK.” If you dislike any other NFL team, you could acquire the necessary vanity plate for at least a short amount of time. The DoT reserves the right to block a vanity plate after the fact.
Although some censorship is acceptable to keep vanity plates civil, there has to be a specific guideline for what words are not acceptable on a vanity plate. As long as the DoT subjectively censors plates, there exists no guideline as to where they should draw the line to avoid infringing on people’s rights.
The First Amendment allows us to express ourselves in almost any way we want without persecution or censorship, so the DoT’s efforts are not only suspect, but also in vain. Maybe a vanity plate cannot express displeasure with a local football team, but there are many other methods of doing so.
Free speech, however, is not a requisite for the DoT, nor should it be. The Federal Communications Commission has a list of words deemed inappropriate for broadcast radio and television in order to ensure that appropriate language fills the public airwaves.
What is important to recognize is that the FCC drew a line of what is and is not acceptable. The DoT has no such line, leaving the censorship to their own discretion. The DoT’s list is far more vast than anything the FCC would be able to enforce. In Wisconsin, a self-deprecating senior citizen is not able to boast his “0LDFART” status on his license plate regardless of his willingness to pay the annual fee to drive with a vanity plate.
Although this conflict does not constitute the forefront of individual rights, the state should keep its bureaucracies’ censorship in check, so Wisconsin citizens can have the luxury of expressing themselves as they please. The DoT needs to follow the guidelines of the FCC so the discretion of censorship is in line with a national standard. Otherwise, the road will be devoid of “HOTPNTS,” “0HG0D,” “FBUSH” and lastly, “QQQQ.”
The comprehensive list of banned vanity plates is available on the Appleton Post-Crescent’s web site.
