Encounters with Stupidity

Last summer I had an eye examination at Sam's Club here in Tucson. I got my contact and eyeglass prescriptions. I ordered contacts right away, but put off getting glasses. This summer, just over a year later, I returned to Sam's to get glasses. The eye technician looked at my prescription and said, sorry, this is expired, you'll need a new exam if you want glasses. This is stupid. Why should an eyeglass prescription ever expire? I can't think of a single reason. It is illegal for someone to make glasses for me with this prescription. The government forbids it. Why? Am I really better off with glasses that are four years old? That is what I currently have, and they are barely usable for getting around my house in the evening. They don't work for driving -- that is why I need new ones. The government, in its infinite collective wisdom, says I'm better off with old glasses than a prescription that is over 3 years newer. I think I know why this law exists. Undoubtably, there is a state licensing board for optomitrists and eyeglass providers. This board almost certainly went begging to the legislature to create just such a law: prescriptions expire after one year. They put a guise on it: it's for the benefit of the people! We don't want them to get bad prescriptions! Shouldn't that be my decision? Why do I need a nanny state to protect me from my desire to wear glasses ground to a one-year-old prescription (or a 40-year-old prescription, for that matter)? The eyeglass lobby created this stupid Arizona law. Such is the typical function of such industry regulation groups: figure out ways to get the government to coerce more money from everyone else. Such use of the government is unethical. Another example of why government must stay out of economics, and deal only with the legitimate task of providing for defense from external and internal threats and uses of force.