Stop Idiocy

Louisiana lawmaker Michael Williams is setting his sights on ridding our streets and public places of pajamas. Williams took up his crusade against this modern epidemic after witnessing a group of men at a Shreveport Walmart dressed in pajamas and house shoes. He is now pushing for an ordinance that will make it illegal to wear pajama pants in public.

Demonstrating his bulletproof logic, Williams stated “Pajamas are designed to be worn in the bedroom at night — if you can’t wear them at the Boardwalk or courthouse, why are you going to do it in a restaurant or in public?”

Shreveport already has a “no-sagging” law against wearing pants below the waist in public, so an ordinance against PJs should presumably fit right in.

The fashion police AND the actual police might soon be after this guy.

Now, I’m 100% in agreement with Williams on the opinion that wearing pajamas in public is kind of ridiculous. Ditto on guys that wear their pants so low that they have trouble walking. But legislators that put laws on the books to criminalize apparel choices that they find distasteful is downright idiotic. Beyond being frivolous and absurd, bans like this are also illegal.

I guess Williams has never heard of the Constitution? These types of laws are clearly a violation of the 14^th Amendment — and courts in other states have already struck them down as such. Is it asking too much to expect that lawmakers like Williams have a basic grasp of fundamental American law so that they don’t waste taxpayer money passing unconstitutional laws (that will later cost more tax dollars to repeal)?

Never mind the practical aspect of enforcing such a ban. Do these classify as pajamas? Who decides?

On the bright side, I suppose that if lawmakers can afford to spend their time focused on something as trivial as outlawing pajamas, all of the real problems in America must already be taken care of.