We now return to our regularly scheduled Republican hypocrisy

Well, that didn't last long.  Republican lawmakers are back to their traditional (which is to say idiotic and hypocritical) ways in North Carolina, where the state senate commerce committee has just unanimously approved a bill that would prohibit car makers from selling their products in the state except through third-party dealerships.

Two passages from the article really stand out:

[The bill's] sponsor, state Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Republican from Henderson ... said the goal is to prevent unfair competition between manufacturers and dealers. What makes it “unfair competition” as opposed to plain-old “competition”—something Republicans are typically inclined to favor—is not entirely clear.

But it becomes a lot clearer when you read this:

Robert Glaser, president of the dealers association, told the News & Observer that the law prohibiting Tesla sales isn’t just about his industry’s self-interest. Pointing to the Tesla representatives at a recent hearing, he said, “You tell me they’re gonna support the little leagues and the YMCA?”

If ever there was proof that Republican really don't hear themselves talking, this is it.  Their best argument for passing a law prohibiting competition is that the competition may not spend the money it makes in the way that they like.  Isn't that supposed to be the whole point of the free market, that people (of which corporations are now a proper subset) get to spend their money in the ways that they like and not in the ways that you like?