Soon it will be legal to dance to the national anthem in Michigan


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There are weird, old laws on the books in states and municipalities all around the country. Thankfully, they mostly — thought not always — go unenforced. This week, however, the Michigan state legislature took action, voting unanimously to get rid of some 80 outdated and often ridiculous laws.
As a result, it will soon be legal in the Wolverine State to dance to the national anthem, swear in front of kids, and laugh at someone who for reasons that are, frankly, unfathomable, decides not to settle a score by dueling to the death.
Residents of states with less proactive legislators, however, may not share Michiganders' newfound freedom from silly laws: Texans may not run for office while atheist, for instance, and Wisconsinites must only make "highly pleasing" cheese if they want state certification.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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