Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
I've never been a fan of vanity plates (W8 4 MI, KROOZR, etc), but as a source of revenue for states, I prefer them to say, higher taxes. In Vermont, state law allows you to order up a vanity plate with any message you like - except a religious message (specifically, any reference to a "religion" or "deity"). A Vermont resident took the State to court over the ban on religious plates, and the Second Circuit has -- OMG -- just struck down Vermont's law.
The Court's opinion, by GW Bush appointee Debra Ann Livingston, demolishes Vermont's purported rationale for prohibiting religious expression. According to Vermont, the "disruption and distraction" caused by religion is a safety issue. Well, that's pretty convincing. I'm sure Dave Carter can weigh in with stories of 23-car pile-ups caused by those pernicious "honk if you love jesus" bumper stickers.
Vermont's other rationale is that it wants to avoid the perception that the State favors certain certain ideas or "viewpoints." And yet, the State had no problem approving such "viewpoints" as CARP DM, PEACE2U, LIVFREE, BEWILD. Oh, and HOPE4ME. (Hope? Hmm, where have I seen that one before?)
Having opened the door to allowing citizens to express all sorts of things on their license plates, the State cannot single out religious messages for exclusion. More commentary here and here, but suffice it to say that Debra Ann Livingston is a GR8 JDGE.
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Jun '10
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
Vanity plates can be so ironic. I saw a full-size yellow Hummer (4-5 mpg) the other day with the plate GO SOLAR on it.
Good for the GR8 JDGE.
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
This has nothing to do with religion, freedom of speech, or, for that matter, Vermont. All the same, I can't resist. The best I've ever seen? Maine plates that read
BA HABA
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
Peter Robinson: This has nothing to do with religion, freedom of speech, or, for that matter, Vermont. All the same, I can't resist. The best I've ever seen? Maine plates that read
BA HABA · Oct 12 at 11:13am
Now that's wicked funny!
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
In a way, all vanity plates are a bit of a safety hazard because drivers spend time deciphering them instead of driving. (Same for hard-to-read bumper stickers.) The plate in question in this case is JN36TN (For John 3:16). There was a craze for a while where certain fans held up "John 3:16" signs at ball games. My argument against that was not that you shouldn't express religious views, but that I would never wave a Yankees banner in church. (Come to think of it, I wouldn't wave a Yankees banner anywhere, but I digress from my original digression.)
Anyway, between our t-shirts and our caps and our designer labels and our vanity plates and our bumper stickers and logo-splattered electronic devices, we're becoming a nation of NASCAR drivers.
Jul '10
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
"...a nation of NASCAR drivers."
No kidding. And You didn't even mention all the advertising on the back windows of their autos.
May '10
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
I like NASCAR. It was a pleasant Sunday diversion when my favorite baseball team reeked with incompetence... but to weave two of Pat's theme's together, why do NASCAR fans go to races with all their Dale Earnhardt Sr flags and memorabilia? Isn't that like going to a Yankees game to root for Babe Ruth?
Attention Race Fans! Dale's dead. D. E. A. D. As in took the final checker. Ain't coming back!
Jun '10
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
On a young man's sports car: MY 2ISHN
Jul '10
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Form ought to equal function. A license plate serves one specific purpose - to identify the automobile for administrative and law enforcement purposes. To allow them to become something else is, in some important way, corrupt.
If I were Dictator of my fine upper midwestern state, I would get rid of not only vanity plates, but also those "theme plates" with deer or ribbons or whatever on them designed to raise money for some ancillary purpose the taxpayers can't be convinced to support on its merits.
Any time we seek to turn a simple thing into something other than what it is, something that strokes our egos or our elevates ourmoral vanity, we edge ever so slightly towards decadence.
Says the old grumpy guy. AHY 220.
Aug '10
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
On glorious fall days when I take the bike path that runs by the train tracks past all the boutique suburbs, guess what I see in the train-station parking lots?
Row after row of vanity plates, with sometimes not one normal plate in the lot (I've stopped to check this from time to time). Often, every single vehicle is also an SUV (so much for the eco-consciousness of blue states).
How bizarre, to conform to the stereotype so perfectly.
Still, I can see a good reason for having a vanity plate: remembering your license plate number. I've known at least three people who got a vanity plate for this very reason. As for me, I simply don't remember my license plate number.
If I did have a vanity plate, though, perhaps it would read
SLOW CAR
Edited on Oct 13, 2010 at 12:04amAug '10
Re: Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
To my wife, who drives a dark green Honda Accord, all dark 4-door sedans look exactly alike. So, after her numerous attempts to get in and/or drive the wrong car in crowded parking lots (including one time when she genuinely frightened the teen-aged kid napping in the backseat of a Ford Taurus), we obtained vanity plates for her car - simply so she could identify it accurately, and avoid potential Grand Theft Auto charges.
Edited on Oct 13, 2010 at 6:43am