The Legislature, apparently under the belief that life here is so sublime that all Maine needs is a chamois buffing to make it shine in splendor, has taken the time this session to engage in discourse on a tax break for chocolate, cell-phone restrictions and special recognition for plaid. But in the consideration of a “natives only” license plate, lawmakers exceed their own outsized reputation for irrelevance.

Rep. Harold Clough of Scarborough wants to offer these license plates to people who can prove they are “native,” thereby threatening to make Maine the laughingstock of the nation or at least of late-night talk shows. Such a license plate reading “Native Mainer” where “Vacationland” currently sits and appearing all over Maine is the simplest way to kill years of trying to attract new businesses to Maine. Legislators might recall that behind those out-of-state businesses and their multiple hundreds of jobs are out-of-state business owners and their families.

Think a license plate that pointedly excludes them is going to make them feel welcome? Think Maine would benefit by showing the heads of some of the largest employers already here that they are considered second-class residents?

The license-plate proposal is so silly that it would hardly bear scrutiny if it weren’t for the lawmaker logic of what sounds like a fine idea in the bar and grill sounds even better in the Capitol. But legislators should examine this bill in light of the state’s Human Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on national origin, including on matters relating to public accommodation. That is, if there is some benefit to driving around with “native” plates – say, lenient treatment by the local traffic patrol – then the resident originally from Paris, France, has as much right to the plates as the resident from Paris, Maine.

It is impossible to be angry over this proposal because it is a clever idea, and proceeds from the sale of the plates go to a good cause, a wildlife fund within the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Perhaps if Maine weren’t lagging in population growth, if its young people weren’t leaving the state, if income levels weren’t among the lowest in the nation, in short, if the Legislature did not have huge challenges before it and very little time to accomplish them, the plate plan would be worth discussing. But when lawmakers start buffing a junker with two flat tires, a broken transmission and some serious rust problems, what’s on the license plate doesn’t seem very important.