Mass(achusetts) Hypocrisy

I live in the progressive paradise of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There are great things about living here, like a great educational system, quaint New England villages that get covered with amazing fall foliage, and zero-deductible windshield replacement with your car insurance.

There are some things that are incongruous, though. We just recently got rid of blue laws. Some of the most racist public actions in recent history were the Southie anti-busing protests of 40 years ago. We have low unemployment, but close to the worst income disparity in the nation.

Driving home from taking the younger one to middle to school, I saw this on the car in front of me.

Point 1: Since when is it OK for the state to promote partisan political and religious views on official material?

It’s been around for 7 years already, so I guess the answer is since 2010. Let it be said in favor of the Commonwealth’s residents that I have driven around for this period without encountering this license plate. Either there aren’t a lot of these plates on cars, or I’m too busy texting while I drive.

Point 2: The statement “Choose Life” is being co-opted and misused whenever it refers to abortion.

The phrase “choose life” comes from Deuteronomy 30:19. The Torah here is talking about the consequences of not living a life according to its laws. It reads:

This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses [that I have warned] you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live;

If someone really believed in “choosing life” as specified by the Bible, that person would be keeping the Jewish dietary laws (say ‘goodbye!’ to lobstah and chowdah), observing the Jewish Sabbath, putting mezuzot on the doorways of their houses, and not mixing wool with linen.

I’m not expecting a massive rush to buy a second set of dishes by everyone who is anti-choice. It’s bad enough that the quote is a misuse of religion. But, hey, speech is free. Say what you want. The real problem with the license plate is not that it the people using the “Choose Life” phrase are being ignorant (willfully or otherwise); it’s that it just doesn’t belong on a form of vehicle identification that is supplied by the state. It should go.