Occupational Licensing Hypocrisy

Does any sincere thinking person believe that we need the government to regulate people who want to blow dry hair? No! There is only one group who seeks this regulation, and that is the government regulated cosmetologists. I submit that the cosmetologists do not seek these regulations in order to protect consumers from evil hair blow dryers but rather to protect their fellow cosmetologists from competition. Where are the courageous legislators who should be counted on to stop this nonsense? There have bills in the last two legislative sessions that have died. Do we have a conservative, free enterprise legislature that believes in letting people work? Nonsense. We have legislators without backbones who cave in to special interest groups like cosmetologists.

In a recent newspaper article, we have an example of the hypocrisy that helps maintain this insane regulatory environment. The article told about a man in Tucson who was giving free haircuts to veterans who ran afoul of the government regulators. Our governor even cited him as an example of over-regulation and suggested that the regulators back off. But, in that same article, we learn that the man has had a religious conversion. Since he has apparently gone to the trouble of spending the time and money to get his license, he now “sees” the need for government regulation. Amazing!

How many more examples of this foolishness and hypocrisy do we need before we end this regulation that prevents poor people from using their skills to earn a living and prevents volunteers from helping others in need?