George Will slams 'protectionist law' in deep red state

When Americans drive from the Texas Panhandle into Oklahoma, they go from a conservative state to a state that's even more conservative. Donald Trump, in the 2024 presidential election, defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by around 14 percent in Texas; he won Oklahoma by roughly 34 percent and carried every county in the deep red state.

But Never Trump conservative and veteran Washington Post columnist George Will is vehemently critical of an Oklahoma law in his April 8 column.

The law governs the sale of caskets, and Will finds it ridiculous that Oklahoma-based business owners Candi Mentink and Todd Collard — a married couple — are able to legally sell "inexpensive caskets" to people in other states and countries but not in their own.

"Thanks to the internet," the 84-year-old Will explains, "they can sell caskets to people in Orlando or Ottawa or Oslo or Okinawa. But not Oklahoma, as they learned when the law, in its majesty, pounced on their company's booth at the state fair. There, they learned that the law forbids selling caskets in the state without a license, which would require: Two years of 'mortuary science' classes. Passing two tests on directing funerals. A one-year apprenticeship under a funeral director. And spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to convert their workshop into a full-service funeral home with an embalming room and viewing area for human remains."

Will, a former Republican turned independent, continues, "The couple paid a fine and toiled futilely for years to get the protectionist law repealed. The faction that got it passed — the funeral directors cartel — remained as muscular as the legislature was obedient."

In their legal battle with the State of Oklahoma, Will notes, Mentink and Collard are being represented by "libertarian litigators" at the Institute for Justice.

"Cartels exist to limit competition by restricting entry into an economic activity," Will argues. "This is rent-seeking: bending government power to disadvantage rivals…. In Oklahoma, you can be buried in a cardboard box, or a shroud, or nothing. But not in a casket unless the purchase of it enriches the state's funeral cartel. Continuing judicial deference to Oklahoma's casket racket would be dereliction of the judicial duty to take seriously incontestable facts, including undeniable and unsavory legislative motivations."

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