The single greatest politically backward thing in America is how the republican party has positioned itself as a pro free market party by, as best as I can tell, often championing precisely the opposite.
I live in Texas and we have the same laws but, yet, a "business friendly" reputation. There's no way to spin it, these kind of laws are the perfect example of an industry using bought politicians to block competition and protect their profits.
I mean it’s very pro-business to mandate that anyone who wants to buy a car has to give money to a business that’s not doing much of anything to deserve it. As long as you ignore idealistic notions of how markets work anyway.
Not to mention that the concept of a free market stands in contradiction with the heavy Republican appetite for social restrictions.
It’s debatable where restriction should be placed, but a “western” market will always have some: trade in people, trade in arms, restricted trade of items to minors. Are there laws restricting commerce based on social restrictions that are not falling into one of those three categories?
I was thinking if you’re leaning toward restricting how people dress, what they call themselves, how they congregate, what entertainment they enjoy, those leanings stand in conflict with “free market”. For example the political war on gaming in the 90s — effectively seeking to restrict the gaming market due to ideological social restrictions. Now I see a similar trend with being anti-“woke” and therefore anti-“woke business”. A company selling drag accessories and drag entertainment will not find many friends in the GOP. The DeSantis conflict with Disney due to its “woke policies” etc. Not to mention tech. Josh Hawley wrote a book called “The Tyranny of Big Tech” claiming tech is dangerous because it’s woke and anti-conservative. Pretty out of band for a “free market” proponent.