. >> bruce yandle who pointed out laws that are for your own good, that have moral overtones you shouldk and see if someone can gain financially from the laws. hard to see how businesses gain from being required to be closed. but what actually happens in the case of the blue laws is that they're protecting themselves from competitors. local liquor store doesn't want to open up on sunday and pay workers overtime whereas the total beverage around the corner or walmart has no trouble doing that. they're keeping themselves protected from competition. john: just like baptists and bootleggers work to preserve alcohol prohibition because the baptists thought it was immoral and the bootleggers made money. john: here's another law, it may have led to the craziness, the big shopping day often called black friday. to get around some of this madness stores started opening earlier on thanksgiving day, but thanksgiving is the time we're supposed to be with our family, so -- >> in maine, massachusetts and rhode island, it is against the law for stores to be open on thanksgiving thanks to puritan inspi