Summer officially ends Sept. 22 -- and it wont be a day too soon.The summer of 2011 may go down as one of the most challenging in history for children in our country -- and not for the reasons you may think.
This was the summer that a common experience for children was taken away. This was the summer when children were told entrepreneurship is bad. This was the summer children were taught that you must get the governments permission before you do just about anything. This was the summer when childrens lemonade stands came under attack by government.
Most of us recall the long, hot days of summer as children. Nearly everyone I know, at some point in their childhood, put up a card table and sold lemonade. Over the years, kids with lemonade stands have learned some very basic lessons about economics. When it is really hot outside, people want something cold to drink. If you provide those thirsty people with ice cold lemonade, they will actually pay for it.Thus, you have an introductory lesson in supply and demand.
The lemonade stand also provided an even more basic lesson -- a lesson that has made our country the greatest nation on Earth. It is the lesson of economic freedom. Historically, in our country, if you have an idea and the ability and work ethic to carry out that idea, you can achieve great success. This simple concept of economic freedom is what drives innovation, job creation, and prosperity.
And yet -- over the summer, children all over our country were taught a far different lesson.One example took place in Coralville, Iowa, where police shut down 4-year-old Abigail Krutsingers lemonade stand because she didnt have a permit.Little Abigail was selling glasses of her thirst-quenching lemonade for 25 cents a glass and had made a whopping $5 when the law came calling.
Bobbie Nelson, a mother of six, watched as her childrens lemonade stand was shut down by Coralville police, as well.She was told the necessary permit would cost $400. Her children stayed up late the night before to make signs to advertise their lemonade stand. According to Mrs. Nelson, when the lemonade stand was shut down, her children just cried and didnt understand why.
The lemonade stand Gestapo was not limited to Coralville, Iowa. Children with lemonade stands in Midway, Ga., Appleton, Wis., and Bethesda, Md., all saw their initial efforts at free-enterprise capitalism thwarted by the heavy hand of government. The parents of the child in Bethesda were actually fined $500 after ignoring several warnings. Over the summer the effort to stamp out illicit lemonade stands reached from California to Pennsylvania -- and all points in between.
It is a sad day in America when a child cant put up a lemonade stand to earn some spending money without first retaining a lawyer to consider the legal ramifications. This summer will surely inspire a new book by Attorney Phillip K. Howard, the author of The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America.
Fortunately, there were some Americans who decided enough is enough.The nationwide attack on an American childhood tradition led to Lemonade Freedom Day on Aug. 20.Participants set up lemonade stands around the nation to protest this anti-lemonade stand trend. They created a website along with the battle cry Voluntary Exchange is Not A Crime. Personally, I think Give Me Lemonade Or Give Me Death! has a better ring (admittedly, I dont know anyone willing to die for a glass of lemonade). More than 5,000 people signed up for their Facebook page.
There were consequences for the Lemonade Freedom Day effort. Three people were arrested for selling lemonade on the West Lawn of the Capitol building in Washington D.C. Their offense: Selling lemonade on the lawn rather than the sidewalk. Capitol police apparently charged them with failure to obey a police officer, unlawful conduct, and vending without a permit.
Despite the arrest, the Lemonade Freedom Fighters helped teach children a very important lesson in American history and tradition. It is a lesson that goes to the core principles of our great country.
In the Declaration of Independence, our Founding Fathers made the case against a heavy-handed and intrusive government (like the kind of government that would shut down a kid's lemonade stand). And they said if government gets out of line, you have a God-given right to do something about it. The Declaration states that when the actions of any form of government become destructive to the ends of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish that government.
In the end, that is what the fight over lemonade stands was all about -- standing up to out-of-touch, overreaching government. In the end, the fight for lemonade stands was really about fighting for freedom -- and that is a lesson worth teaching our children.
This is a guest column by Jeff Kottkamp, Floridas 17th lieutenant governor.
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