PolicyGuy

Saturday, August 27, 2005


Goodbye, Mr. Smiley, or the Trouble With Public Art
This is rather old news, but still remarkable: Kentucky's new license plate caused so much public loathing that the state is going to retire it early. Drivers have been known to cover up portions of the plate with duct tape, or otherwise deface it, so the government's going to surrender its design ahead of time.

Unofficially dubbed Mr. Smiley, the plate features what some commentators call a Teletubbies-style sunrise. USA Today provided a write-up of the decision to sunset the sunrise, while KentuckyRoads.com provides a legislative history. It also has a good image of the plate; keep scrolling until you reach the bottom of the page.

The magazine Business 2.0 points out that the early phaseout will cost the state $3.5 million.

"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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