Cerabino: DeSantis: Proposed state license plate features warning to "out-of-state cars"

Editor's note: This column was originally published on Aug. 7, 2022.

It’s hard to keep up with Florida’s official enemies list.

Just when you think we’re running out, Gov. Ron DeSantis dreams up a new imaginary villain. It’s impressive.

Move over college professors, “woke” corporations, tech companies, trans kids, “corporate media” types, and racial injustice historians.

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There’s a new kid on the block: People coming to Florida in “out-of-state cars.”

New plate targets out-of-state tourists

Seriously. America’s tetchiest governor has a message for you.

“The free state of Florida has a new license plate for pre-order that benefits the Florida Veterans Foundation and sends a clear message to out-of-state cars, ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ or Florida,” DeSantis tweeted.

I didn’t know that “out-of-state” cars required a clear message — other than to be apprised that about 20 percent of Florida drivers don’t have auto insurance and the state is second in the nation when it comes to motorists killing pedestrians.

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The no-treading-allowed message seems odd. Isn’t that what tourists do? Eventually, they park their cars and then they literally tread on Florida until it’s time to go, leaving a trail of dollars in their wake.

I thought that was supposed to be a good thing.

The newly proposed state specialty license plate features a coiled rattlesnake that was first pictured in the Gadsden flag, an historical American flag waved as a protest against government tyranny.

These days, that Colonial-era relic has been co-opted as a popular symbol for U.S. Capitol insurrectionists, right-wing militia groups, QAnon crackpots and Koch-funded tax protesters.

It serves as a valuable tool for the rest of us to identify the chuckleheads in our midst. So, for that reason, I’m all in favor of giving people the option to put it on their state license plate.

(And good news: For one lucky “Don’t Tread on Me” motorist, the personalized licensed plate “DUM AZZ” is still available from the state.)

Florida's confusing "don't tread on me" message to tourists

It’s more than amusing to discover that “out-of-state” cars have somehow been added to Florida’s naughty list.