ONE OF THE MOST vitriolic and poisonous battles our Legislature has seen in recent times came eight years ago, when the Sons of Confederate Veterans pushed lawmakers to give them their own special state license plate, emblazoned with the Confederate flag. After two years, it ended in a compromise: The Legislature would allow any nonprofit that could put down $4,000 or submit 400 prepaid applications to put its message on official South Carolina license tags.

The Confederate group was the first to qualify, and by the end of 1999, its tags were in production.

But that wasn’t good enough.

Now the organization is trying to add itself to the growing list of groups that use government-issued license plates as fund-raising tools. A spokesman said the Sons of Confederate Veterans simply wanted the state to “treat us equally with other similar groups.”

The fact is that the Sons of Confederate Veterans is not similar to the other groups whose ranks it wishes to join. Unlike colleges, lighthouses, civic groups and such, the Sons of Confederate Veterans deeply offends a sizable portion of our state’s citizens, black and white, because of its affection for things Confederate.

Still, there’s something to be said for having the state treat all private organizations the same. What’s wrong is the proposed remedy. What the state needs to change isn’t how it treats the Sons of Confederate Veterans. It’s how the state treats other private organizations.

States issue license plates for two reasons: to make sure cars are properly licensed and insured and that taxes are paid on them; and to aid in law enforcement.

We’ve never liked the idea of having any specialty plates. With more than 70 — yes, 70 — different specialty tags available, it’s difficult to tell an S.C. plate at a glance, which could endanger public safety when a witness or law enforcement officer gets only a quick glimpse at a getaway car. It would make more sense to have one standard license plate, with the name of the state and the county (which could aid in enforcing those tax and insurance laws), and leave individual messages to bumper stickers. But the way the license plate has been used to turn our state into a fund-raiser and bill collector for public and even private causes and groups is even worse than its proliferation of faces.

Every year, it seems, the General Assembly adds to the list of special license plates that can be purchased with a surcharge that goes to the public or private cause they advocate — everything from the public schools and wildflowers on the highway to colleges and spay/neuter programs. Just last month, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a lower court decision that struck down the state’s attempts to become a bill collector for crisis pregnancy programs; the lower court said the never-sold “Choose Life” tags violated the Constitution, apparently because no “Choose Abortion” tags were being offered. This year’s proposal for the state to become a fund-raiser for the Sons of Confederate Veterans is being considered alongside a proposal that the state raise money to support breast cancer screenings.

States are quite good at collecting money. But they should collect it only for use by the public, through its government, not for private interests. If the Sons of Confederate Veterans and Rotary Club and Junior Golf Association and Wild Turkey Federation need money, they should go out and raise that money themselves, and not rely on the government to do it for them.