Republicans often proclaim to be the party of small business, and they've been particularly boisterous of late in claiming that Democrats impose job-killing regulations on businesses or impose laws – like clean energy bills – that favor some businesses over others.



But the other week, it was New Jersey governor Chris Christie putting his finger on the economic scales, signing into law a ban on Tesla's direct-to-consumer sales model at the behest of his state's powerful auto dealership lobby.

In doing so, New Jersey joined the ranks of Arizona and Texas to outright ban Tesla from selling its electic cars directly to consumers through a Tesla showroom. Customers can still head to existing showrooms to inquire, look at design options and go for a test drive, but employees are forbidden by law to discuss any type of pricing or help the customer ... actually buy a car. A sign in the back informs would-be car buyers that any of that has to be done online or over the phone.

Why are dealerships spending so much time and money lobbying against a startup that only sold about 22,450 cars last year?

Because Tesla's innovative business model cuts out the monopolies created by the dealer system, and the profits they reap as middlemen. Which we've known since Elon Musk founded the company more than a decade ago. But the simplicity of buying a Tesla, once you get past that price tag, is a kind of public service, which allows a new generation of customers to circumvent all the frustration and expense too long associated with sketchy car dealers.

The dealers' first line of attack is to claim that protecting consumers from engaging directly with auto manufacturers like Tesla is actually more consumer-friendly, because independent dealers have investments in local communities – and so they're more eager to help with warranty concerns or repairs. But the most credible report ever alleging Tesla neglected a customer is a lemon-law lawsuit in Wisconsin, involving ignored requests for a return. Otherwise, the company's customer service reports are exemplary – even in last year's now infamous battery fire incidents.

Then the dealership lobbyists claim that Tesla's sales model is simply unfair competition to their archaic model. But Tesla offers an entirely better way of buying a car. And dealers know it.

They know they're going to lose huge amounts of money if Tesla's direct-to-consumer model catches on, especially because millennials overwhelmingly prefer to skip dealerships entirely by performing research online – and they would buy online if they were more able, in part to avoid the current negotiation-based sales system. The Tesla model allows just that. Customers get a hands-on feel of the vehicle in the showroom, then can handle everything else online. No pressure.

But the recent lobbying tactics aren't just aimed at squashing Tesla; car dealerships would like to unplug electric cars as a whole ... before they gain enough infrastructure and market presence to negatively impact the sales of gasoline-based vehicles.

Dealerships make most of their profit from regular maintenance services, but all-electric cars require less routine maintenance than gasoline ones. It's hard to make money off an oil change when the car doesn't use oil – plus, the writing is on the wall that millennials won't put up with the shenanigans their parents did.

Millennials are growing up in one of the most difficult economic time periods Americans have experienced since The Great Depression. This generation is burdened with nearly $1.2tn in student loan debt, not to mention stagnant wages and high unemployment – one reason, between 2007 and 2011, car sales plummeted nearly 30% for consumers ages 18 to 34.

And technology is the millennial generation's pathway to independence. When we are able to afford cars, the entire process needs to take our lifestyle into account: the vehicles themselves need to be more tech savvy, and buying them needs to be something we can do at our leisure – which most often means online.

But instead of adapting, car dealers are spending their money to get state Republicans and Democrats to help them to hold onto their monopolies to fight Tesla. Tesla's business model has been approved in California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Virginia, but it's being challenged by lobbyists in 14 other states, from North Carolina to Nevada and Ohio to Oregon.

Before dealership lobbyists and the GOP continue picking winners and losers in America's so-called "free market" economy – or further litigate against Tesla for being "unfair" – they need to realize that the golden age of dealership monopolies is already beginning to rust. Now it's time for Republicans and Democrats to get with the program and move out of way. Let my generation spend our money as we see fit — or we won't spend it at all.