Sen. John Valentine proposes to turn Arnold Friberg’s famous painting of George Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge into a license plate. Should this be done, or is it an affront to great art?

Actually, the idea kind of grows on you the more you think about it. There’s obviously a lot of wasted space in that painting that could be put to better use. For instance, why do we need that horse? The important thing is George Washington. I doubt if the horse even said “amen,” so he doesn’t deserve to be immortalized in a Utah license plate.

My thought would be to use the horse space for the license number (I’ve used my own plate for the sample above, just to get an idea what it would look like. Not bad, huh?) Of course, the numbers need to be big enough for the cops to read, so the top of Washington’s left ear is expendable. The most important things to keep are his clasped hands and his knee humbly bent in prayer. Mission accomplished.

But I kid. A good designer could actually make the license plate work with a smaller image and some classy typography. I’ve always liked this painting. So my request to Valentine is that he find a designer who is up to the task. Don’t make poor Friberg roll over in his grave.