In Us We (should) Trust

You may have started to notice Indiana license plates popping up with the words “In God We Trust” inscribed underneath a handsome Old Glory flapping in the wind. If you haven’t, and you own a vehicle, perhaps you need to stop in for a regular vision checkup before you get behind the wheel again: this plate is the Next Big Thing. Or perhaps it already is, given its stunning popularity which has made it the most widely sold plate in the state today. Since they were introduced at the beginning of this year more than half a million of these transcendental tags have been distributed.\nWhat perhaps you did not know (yet) is that you, dear taxpayer, are subsidizing these plates with your hard-earned dollars. The scheme is as follows: The specially commissioned plates, which are now the second “official” plate of the Hoosier state, are even more expensive to produce than the typical specialty plate, or a custom plate one might purchase with, say, the letters “INFIDEL.” No objection so far. And here, as people like to say, is the rub: These holy plates are also distributed free of charge.\nThe taxpayers of Indiana are footing the bill for a crude attempt by the state to reward the faithful with specialty plates by waiving the normal $15 fee. The state also absorbs the additional cost required to produce this particular piece of scrap metal. Whereas the standard white and green license plates cost $3.19 to produce, it costs 50 cents more to stamp out the blessed auto badges—a 15% increase. Unlike other specialty tags, such as those benefiting the environment or a university – the proceeds of which are used to support the charity that the tag represents – the “In God We Trust” plates are merely a secondary option. \nPredictably, the ACLU has stepped in to file a suit, claiming the BMV gives preferential treatment to drivers who want the plate because other specialty tags require additional fees. Although we may have conflicting opinions about that organization’s correctness on a whole host of issues, here we think they deserve credit for calling this sloppy idea by its proper name: theocratic piffle. \nIn the face of the overconfident posturing by the Indiana BMV, the courts ought to force the Bureau to stop production of the polemical plates, which are in clear violation of the Establishment Clause. First Amendment is being breached by a cheap - or should we say an expensive? - attempt to endorse religion at the expense of believers and non-believers alike. A pitiful spectacle indeed. \nThough the tags do not explicitly endorse a single religion, the fact that they endorse any religion is grounds for concern. Freedom of religion, as guaranteed by the First Amendment, means freedom from religion, especially in the public sphere. If the state is wants to endorse a deity, any deity, it must provide options for drivers of all faiths—even the secular ones. After all, we do have a Constitution in this land.