Why our politicians can’t stop passing absurd laws

It’s illegal for donkeys to sleep in bathtubs in Arizona. Sound familiar? It should. This choice nugget is just one of many absurd laws that politicians have been able to dream up. There are so many of them — and so many of them are so absurd — that a book about these laws made the rounds back in the ’90s.  

In Utah, you can’t fish from horseback. Mobile, Alabama bans the sale of silly-string. For decades, Connecticut has regulated the bounciness — yes, bounciness — of pickles! You get the idea. Want more, there are plenty of others online.

Alas, these aren’t just historical oddities, nor has the well of ill-advised ideas run dry. For a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. And for too many lawmakers, the solution for every problem — real or imagined — is a law that limits our freedom.

Arizona’s donkeys sleeping in bathtubs ordinance reveals a tendency for legislators to react to any controversy by succumbing to the call: “There ought to be a law.” The result of this thinking is that government forever grows and forever loses focus on its proper functions, like protecting individual rights, promoting public safety, and ensuring rule of law.

Take New York. To kick off the new year, state lawmakers, in their wisdom, are contemplating compelling some Chick-Fil-A restaurant locations to be open on Sundays. Never mind that the First Amendment prohibits the government from forcing businesses to open in violation of their religious convictions.

Or that other restaurants exist in the Empire State happily serving chicken sandwiches on Sundays. Chick-Fil-A makes for a tasty culture war issue, so lawmakers are drawn to it . . . apparently like Arizona donkeys to bathtubs.