Yesterday I pointed out the lemonade stand image near the end of Scott Brown’s “Let America Be America Again” video, with the suggestion the Romney and Brown campaigns run the image with the following parody quote of Obama and Elizabeth Warren:
You own a lemonade stand, kid, good for you … but I want to be clear, those lemons were moved to market on roads the rest of us paid for ….
A reader sent me a link to a video about real life lemonade stand problems, which led to some others. In the first video below, one of the mothers sums up the message government sends to the youth, “The message to kids is, there’s no American Dream.”
Here are some more:
(follow up here to above video)
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Yes, this is what it’s like to start a business. So many people clamor for a smaller federal government, but don’t recognize that big local government is as aggravating a pox as well. You object to it, and they all start clamoring for controls, controls, controls! A license for the business, a permit for your sign, certificates for your building, a grease trap for your store, it goes on and on…
Yet, the self-employed illegals down the street need nothing to operate. It must be glorious to live in a free country.
We’ve all heard the old saw, “Behind every successful man stands an astounded mother-in-law”.
What is really MORE true is that behind every successful TRUE entrepreneur, stand a legion of people telling him or her they cannot do that (whatever that is), and doing their best to drag them down.
This is not a new story, but it certainly is at a crescendo right now. You can read how old it is in America in the excellent little book, The Myth Of The Robber Barons.
Obama gave a SOTUS where he kept intoning “we do big things”. I kept saying, “No. We do not.”
And the truth is that we don’t, and that Obama has shrunk our nation and our sense of what can be done. I believe deliberately.
We have to take that back.
About 20 years ago there was an article in the WSJ about how government actually got in your way if you were successful. Government only functioned for those below a certain level of income, not above. The article was very inclusive. The problem we have now is that government is in the way at all stages and even effects children. Yet, the government is incapable of seeing is destructive process.
Look out Lefties. My little girl is a lemonade stand capitalist. She and her friend built this on their own and choreographed the entertainment for their customers all themselves, too.
What Obama and Dizzy Miss Lizzy should’ve said:
You did NOT build a business?
Good for you!
You got to spend much, much, much more time with your wife and children. You worked far fewer hours. You had much less stress to deal with and took on far less risk. You didn’t have to deal with the myriad problems concerning employees and clients. Etc., etc., etc.
LukeHandCool (who loves the “kick your boyfriend out of town” line … because he turned out to be a freeloading, deadbeat lefty).
Sad to see another early “life lesson” diminished. Sader still is the ideology that drives the narrative that..in very simple terms..iniative and skills take a back seat to intent so far as results go. Well…I really wanted to do xy or z but couldnt so therefore the system must be corupt.
Ive mentioned it before and will again. Weve arrived at the age of Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron where any skillset that puts others at some disadvantage is handicapped by a government handicapper general. Beauty is covered with a mask…athletic ability is made “fair” by wearing lead weights and so forth.
All in the name of fairness.
As well as the illustration…the lemonaide stand an obvious attempt is being made to redefine fairness.
Most of us learned a concept Ill call “even Steven” that was basically one person = one vote if you will. Go out to dinner with three others and the bill was split 4 ways. Simple.
But now were told…get rid of that flatearther thinking Bub. Push the entire bill toward the rich guy at the table.
Thanks Obama.
There is an easy answer to all this.
Of course lemonade stands are dangerous. Give these kids a taste of capitalism, and, the next thing you know, they’ll be teenagers wanting to open up candy stores selling Big Gulp sodas.
But I digress.
The answer?
Instead of lemonade, have them sell Kool-Aid.
It’s cool and likable … and gives you a *buzz.
* Hangover may result.
Related: for those of you on Twitter, Janie Johnson (@jjauthor, author of “Don’t Take My Lemonade Stand”) is a good follow.
I guess that it can be safely stated that government is an obstacle in free enterprise.
I wonder what would happen if the lemonade was free but donation’s accepted? Running a charity without a license??
Ain’t life grand???
OMG
And people wonder we want smaller government.
A government that doesn’t allow kids to do kid stuff without shelling out for a license is not serving the citizens.
[…] Me Liberty – Patrick Henry Posted on July 24, 2012 11:34 am by Bill Quick » Lemonade stand owners didn’t make it on their own – Le·gal In·sur&… A reader sent me a link to a video about real life lemonade stand problems, which led to some […]
There is something insidiously inherently wrong with a system, a govt, and society that attacks, via fines and arrest, little children for selling lemonade on their lemonade stands, on their own land..
Of course what else is new with this anti-American liberal socialist-marxist attitude today, which now permeates throughout communities all over America.
If we have to make a Constitutional Amendment to allow our children the freedom to sell lemonade, as well as cookies, cupcakes, etc, then there is something seriously wrong in America today.
Why do people not see this as something seriously gone wrong. I mean is their anti-American liberal socialist marxist indoctrination that powerful that they cannot see even this is wrong.
Here’s a small list of odds and ends involved during the state licensing process for my small business, a privately owned, for profit, outpatient substance abuse treatment agency (of which I’ve now sold off all but one office):
– Had to file an Application To Apply. That’s right, I had to apply for an application to apply for a license. Each level of application cost $250. (State gov)
– Had to provide a physical address for the prospective new agency on the Application To Apply, meaning I had to pay for an entire empty, unproductive office suite for the 7 month long process. (State gov)
– Had to provide to the NC DOT/DMV, in advance, my operating days and hours, types of services, individual fees, costs, etc., and am required to submit an application if I want to change any of them. (State gov)
– Had to pay for and complete mandatory government training provided by bureaucrats with zero experience in substance abuse treatment or business on how to conduct the work I’ve been doing full time for 25 years. (State gov)
– Had to file an Environmental Impact Study (substance abuse counseling is apparently notorious for pollution), an unfunded mandate by the feds on the state. Mine was only 12 pages long. It essentially said ’none’. (State/Fed gov)
– Had to buy from an ‘approved’ list of main office computers because I have to interface with DMV computers. Also had to buy government approved security software. Each cost twice as much as necessary. (State gov)
– Though they provide absolutely nothing to the effort, the NC DOT/DMV takes a cut of every single dollar I earn in the DWI section of my agency, all apart and in addition to other taxes. I am assured it is not a tax, but ‘user fees’. (?). (State gov)
– Had to list every single piece of equipment or supply right down to staplers, ink pens, and paper clips and include the cost of each item *when it was new*. I paid $25 for my desk, an antique oak desk about 80 yrs old. I called and asked – yes, they DID expect me to research what it retailed for in 1932. This assessment is the basis for a new business property tax. (County gov)
– Had to provide a schematic drawing of the office sign bolted next to my entry door, plus an architectural plan of the entire building (I’m one of a dozen businesses leasing space in same building), and then pay a $150 Sign License Fee for a 24” x 16” sign that cost $110. (Town gov)
– Had two town officials show up unannounced and threaten to ‘write me up’ for not obtaining a $125 Business License when I’d opened 6 months earlier. Having thoroughly researched this sort of thing before opening, I knew there was no such statute, and refused to pay. I asked nearby business owners, none of whom had the license, nor heard of it. Confronted the town officials and asked to see the applicable statutes – they said it wasn’t law, nor even officially proposed as yet, but soon would be, so pay up. Proactive taxation! I refused and continue to refuse. (Town gov)
———————–
I could go on like this for pages and pages. It’s just never ending. I get 5-10 memos per month advising on changes in the rules, regs, and policies, many of which create the need to revamp portions of my operations. It never ends. And it costs money big time – about one third of my overhead. Every single price hike I’ve made was the direct result to some government intrusion or another. Taxes on business – big or small – is a tax on citizens, because we have no choice but to pass the cost on. Politicians know it and especially love the part where citizens get mad at us while it is the government which is actually getting the money.
Government at the local, state, and federal levels see small businesses as their personal playpens and piggybanks.
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends tofight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
—–Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
What the heck?!?! The alderman in the last video spouted some nonsense about “the overall intent of the ordinance was to protect the vendors at these events” – from whom? From competition? Whatever that is, it’s not capitalism. The city shouldn’t be involved in the protection racket. And all the ridiculous licensing requirements are more about lining municipal coffers than they are about protecting consumers from inferior quality goods or improperly prepared foodstuffs. Yet another example of confusing licensing/certification with competence and quality.
If the Republicans really want to spit in the eye of the Progressocrats and the Regulators, they should invite these little kids and their parents to testify before Congress. In response, they could introduce a bill called, “The Childhood Home Beverage and Juice Sales Fairness Act” which would set limits on state and federal powers to go after kids selling cold drinks on their own property.
Then, dare the Senate NOT to pass it, and if they do, dare Prez-O-Bama to veto it.
No wonder were a gazillion dollars in debt. We’ve lost our fu*king minds, in addition to ALL of our collective common sense.
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/TrooperJohnSmith/common-sense-super-power.jpg
[…] Barack Obama wants us to forget that America. In the latest Friendly reminder from Obama: This is a choice election, not a referendum on my performance; Update: New Obama ad responds to “you didn’t build that” criticism Obama seeks once again to bury that memory of America. […]
The arguments for shutting down these businesses are understandable. The reasons for many of the “rules” are sound. And should anyone get sick from a glass of lemonade purchased from one of these establishments after it had been permitted to stay open, the local constabulary and community would be sued by some lawyer for everything it had. STAY WITH ME HERE, PLEASE.
That said, one wonders if the same stalwart constabulary would be as conscientious in its adherence to the letter of the law in matters involving immigration. No likely. Here, “judgement” would be permitted, no, demanded, by the same lawyer who would have thrown the book at the community permitting the sale of lemonade from “unlicensed” vendors, inconvenient immigration laws notwithstanding.
By all appearances, drinking a glass of lemonade from one of these stands would be every bit as safe, or safer, than drinking a cup of coffee you prepared for yourself at the local convenience store. That’s an opinion based upon the appearance of the sellers. In the circumsyances here all the rest is pretentious nonsense. The conditions and circumstances matter and should matter. The point is that we have made it impossible to apply thoughtful judgement to our actions as we move through our lives. We are very far down the path away from being a common law nation, one where our laws tell us only what we may not do rather than what we must do and how we must behave.