The home state of Thomas Edison continues to do immense damage to anything tied to Nikola Tesla. On March 11, the state Motor Vehicle Commission in New Jersey banned direct sales of Tesla automobiles, according to ABC News.

New Jersey has now joined Texas and Arizona in a trinity of innovation strangulation. Unlike other car manufacturers, Tesla does not use third-party car dealerships to sell its product to consumers. Instead, people buy directly from one of Tesla’s first-party stores, according to an article on The Verge.

Unlike previous iterations of the electric automobile, Tesla’s Model S is selling very well. It can go 300 miles on a single charge and has a sleek and fantastic design.

Sadly, when any bright idea comes around, the old guard always tries to snuff it out. Fearful of losing its right to annoy consumers and squeeze them out of thousands of dollars when shopping for an automobile, the Texas Automobile Dealers Association spent more than $200,000 to lobby Republican politicians in the state against Tesla Motors, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. It worked, and sales were banned in late 2013.

I didn’t think anyone would try to keep this fine business from operating in Washington state, but I was mistaken. According to data from Bloomberg Businessweek, Washington led the nation in Tesla sales last year. However, like Texas, legislation has been introduced to put a stop to that economic success.

Currently, two bills are making their way through the Legislature in Olympia that would put a hamper on Tesla sales. The bill in the state Senate passed and has been delivered to Governor Inslee, and the bill in the state House of Representatives has been referred to a committee for further review. Eight of the 15 sponsors of Senate Bill 6272 are Republicans.

It’s deeply hypocritical of the political right to hinder a successful business like this. Time and time again, we hear how the GOP is the party of the ‘Free Market.’ Republicans claim they want to help business owners, and yet states with Republican governors did this. It’s absurd and shows all they care about is money.

If Tesla wants to avoid getting banned in New Jersey, they should just donate a large amount of money to Governor Sandwiches and his likely campaign for the presidency in 2016. Oh, my mistake. His name is Chris Christie.

– Evan Pretzer is a junior communication major from from Weyburn, Saskatchewan. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.