I Believe Too!

Glorious Leader Gov. Mark Sanford, without doing anything, has now opened the floodgates for South Carolinians to proclaim their belief in anything they want:

Drivers will soon be ablel to buy a Christian-themed license tag with the words "I Believe" on it. The tag includes a cross on a stainedglass window.

Gov. Mark Sanford did not sign the bill passed by the General Assembly, fearing the license plate will open up the state to lawsuits. But the governor did not veto the measure. Sanford had until midnight Wednesday to sign more than 40 bills into law. The governor vetoed six of those bills.

FITSNews reported Tuesday that Sanford was conflicted on the decision to sign the bill, veto it or simply do nothing and watch it become law.

Some are urging Sanford to consider the legal ramifications of the license plate bill becoming law, specifically the costs taxpayers would be forced to absorb in defending the state against the inevitable lawsuit.

“I respect the strongly held beliefs of the supporters of the I BELIEVE special license plate,” said Stefan Lonce, author of the forthcoming book, LCNS2ROM - License to Roam: Vanity License Plates and the GR8 Stories They Tell . “However, if Governor Sanford approves the I BELIEVE plate bill, then South Carolina taxpayers would have to pay to defend the plate in court, unless a legal defense fund were organized."

FITS points out that our fearless leader took "Door #3, the door of avoidance" by keeping his name off the controversial issue which will almost certainly lead to a legal challenge:

On the one hand, the governor didn’t want to offend evangelicals who support the “I BELIEVE” vehicle tags. On the other hand, he didn’t want to get pegged as the guy responsible for inviting the inevitable lawsuit that these tags will produce - or the guy responsible for the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars which will be required to defend the state in that legal action.

Sanford addressed the issue... sort of... in a letter to the Senate (Provided by WCNC):

"While I do, in fact, 'believe' -- it is my personal view that the largest proclamation of one's faith ought to be in how one lives one's life. Galatians talks of the fruit of the spirit as peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and more -- and, accordingly, if God is working in one's life, these things will say what no license plate will ever say," Sanford wrote.

I'm hoping against hope there won't be a lawsuit blocking this oddly fast-tracked vanity plate. South Carolina isn't exactly rolling in dough and I can almost guarantee you the people who want this plate won't put together a legal defense fund when the inevitable lawsuit comes down the pipe. No, they'll let you and me pay for a plate we could care less about.

The exciting news here is that South Carolina Pastafarians should have no trouble at all getting our own plate approved. All we need is 400 signatures, $4,000 or a bill from our state legislature with complete inaction from the governor and we can show our beliefs too! The hard part will be finding someone with some initiative. Stay tuned...


UPDATE: The ACLU and the American Jewish Congress are already considering legal action, according to this article in The New York Times.

UPDATE 2: NBC Nightly News featured the story last week, via onegoodmove.