Indiana Readers Respond
Earlier in the week, I posted about a lawsuit in Indiana over the fee exemption offered "in God We Trust" license plates, and asked Hoosier State readers to write in to tell me the story. It seemed obvious to me that as a specialty plate it deserves the same administrative fee as all other similar plates. Reader R.A. helps set me straight:
As an Indiana resident, this is what I understand. The "In God We Trust" (IGWT) plate is not a specialty plate, it is an alternative standard plate, so no fee beyond the $15 processing charge is added and drivers are able to choose between the standard standard plate and the alternative standard IGWT plate. The claim is that no additional fee is charged since no organization is benefiting from the sale of these plates like they do for the sale of specialty plates, like the environmental plate or a specific college plate, which have additional fees added to the $15 processing charge to benefit the plate's designee. As far as I can tell, the state sponsors the IGWT standard plate just like they sponsor the standard standard plate.So, as a state-sponsored (but alternative) plate, that makes more sense. But our astute reader still sees plenty of room here for discrimination. Read on in the extended entry below:
Once all drivers have been forced to choose between the standard standard or IGWT standard plate, it will be obvious who chose which, and I can imagine discrimination based on plate selection in both directions. Drivers of autos with the standard standard plate will likely be assumed "godless heathens" by the majority of drivers sporting the IGWT plates and some police may choose to ticket drivers stopped for minor infractions, where the officer has reasonable discretion, based on the plate they chose. Since the people of Indiana are largely conservative Christians, I can only imagine that most of this discrimination will be towards drivers who do not display the IGWT plate. Then, when the statistics begin to show that a disproportionate number of citations are awarded to drivers of cars who do not sport the IGWT plate, the reason will be "obvious" - because they chose to reject God and they show less discretion because of it - it's perfect - if you have no regard for the separation of church and state.
Given that the Indiana population is largely conservative and Christian, I see this as the state forcing drivers to choose either the IGWT plate or the discrimination that might result from not choosing it.