Fairness doctrine... for license plates?!

By Gina Miller

The God-hating minions of the Left are working overtime to kill our freedom of speech and expression, when it concerns speech and expression they don't like. So, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina sued representatives of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the State Highway Patrol to block the state from issuing "Choose Life" license plates.

Last Friday, an 84-year-old President Reagan appointee, North Carolina Federal Judge James C. Fox, issued a ruling declaring the state's "Choose Life" license plates to be an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment, giving the ACLU its desired victory against the message, "Please don't choose to kill your pre-born baby."

As I read Judge Fox's 20-page decision, I kept thinking that you really can over-think these things. Granted, I have not immersed myself in the oceans of case law — good and bad — that make up what judges choose to bring to bear on their considerations. The elderly Judge Fox cited a number of previous cases, most of them from recent years, in deciding what constitutes government or state speech and what is deemed private speech. That is apparently what this decision boiled down to: whether or not the "Choose Life" plates were private or government speech (the "Court" concluded it was a mix of the two).

Why does this matter? I don't know that it truly does matter, outside the realm of the radicals who have labored for decades to create the legal illusion that our state and federal governments must never be allowed to present ideas or speech that affirm Christian truth, that acknowledge God's place in the founding of our nation, and that even appear to support the right, moral traditions that once made this nation the greatest on Earth. This was never meant to be, when those men who fought to establish our nation were crafting its founding documents.

Nevertheless, we now labor against forces of godlessness that are deeply committed to extinguishing any mention of God's truth in our nation's public square — God's truth in this case is that life is a precious gift from Him, not a "choice" to be murdered in the womb at the whim of the "mother." These forces, like the ACLU, have an arsenal of case law that they use to twist the most basic and normal expressions into something "lawless," while at the same time twisting the most perverse and ungodly expressions into "protected free speech."

Judge Fox's ruling effectively applies a "Fairness Doctrine" to the issuing of "Choose Life" license plates in North Carolina by declaring the state may not issue the "Choose Life" plates without also offering plates bearing the opposing, deadly viewpoint. In North Carolina, the General Assembly must authorize all specialty plates (with the exception of certain civic organizations and college insignias), and they did authorize the "Choose Life" tags, while they rejected lawmakers' submissions to approve license plates bearing a pro-abortion message. This, according to Judge Fox, is "viewpoint discrimination." To that I say, "SO?!" Where in our Constitution is it written that "viewpoint discrimination" by a state or federal government is prohibited?

This is not a violation of the First Amendment, but what has happened today is that judges now have that ocean of former case law which has effectively altered the simple meaning of constitutional passages like the First Amendment, perverting their original meaning under a mountain of legalese precedent. Bring enough lawsuits, and let enough leftist judges make bad rulings, and you eventually do not need a constitutional convention to obliterate the Constitution.

I noticed Judge Fox used the term "common sense" a few times in his ruling. I suppose there is a fine line between common sense and rationalization. But, what do I know? Well, I do know that Judge Fox, in siding with the ACLU, has put another nail in the coffin of freedom — the freedom of Americans to speak and express themselves in the matters they deem important, which in this case concerns an anti-abortion message. Even if North Carolina caved and allowed pro-abortion license plate messages, these leftists would still not be happy. As long as any life-affirming message is allowed to stand, they will continue to fight to silence it.

This is ultimately about the "Choose Life" message and putting a dent in funding for the pro-life centers that benefit from people paying extra to get the "Choose Life" license plates. The message is one that those of the godless Left despise, because they despise the God of all creation. They despise God, because they are not of Him, and that leaves only the devil's persuasion, by default. Those who are not of God are of the devil, and they are motivated by the very things that motivate Satan. That's why the devil-inspired, godless world hates Christianity, Christians and Israel, because these belong to God, and Satan is consumed with hatred of God and God's people.

I don't really care who may think this is simplistic, because it is simple, unlike Judge Fox's convoluted opinion. The truth is simple. And only in the delusional world of an evil mind is a message of truth considered offensive. Only in the warped brain of ACLU godlessness is it a valiant mission to silence voices that defend the lives of unborn human beings.

So, now North Carolina has a ridiculous "Fairness Doctrine" for license plates — but only the ones with a pro-life message, of course. Way to go, Judge Fox. I certainly hope North Carolina appeals this bad ruling.

© Gina Miller