I know, this one’s outside my bailiwick, but can you blame me? Apparently New Mexico has forbidden interior designers from calling themselves “interior designers” unless they are officially certified by the government.

What, exactly, is the compelling state interest for such a ban? Are New Mexico legislators fearful that citizens will suffer irreversible harm from bad Feng Shui? “You’ve lined up your dining room table with your couch?!? Are you mad!?!”

Or have they developed such a keenly felt artisitic sensibility that they must spare New Mexicans from a return to the “Interior Desecrations” of the 1970s?

As a forthcoming Cato Institute paper reveals, state licensure of professionals is a bad idea even in important areas like teaching (“Giving Kids the Chaff: How to Find and Keep the Teachers We Need”). That it is even contemplated in interior design is, at the very least, decidedly tacky.

Hat tip, Jacob Sullum.