When Life Gives You Lemons, The Government Gives You a Fine

The American dream, what does this mean?  For most it means that if a person works hard they too can make it rich here in America.  It is the pursuit of this dream that has brought our forefathers to this great nation, and it is the job of every American parent to instill this into the minds of their children.  Some parents try to do this by either allowing their children to have an allowance or to create a small business either by raising and selling rabbits or by setting up a lemonade stand. 

However, in Bethesda Maryland, apparently this is a finable offence.  Two families in an attempt to teach the American dream and the value of a dollar allowed their children to set up a lemonade stand near the US Open golf tournament in Maryland, in hopes of raising money for charity.   Thankfully, a local country official saw this horrible offence and sprang into action fining the families $500 because the children had not purchased a permit from the county to sell their lemonade. 

The question we must ask ourselves is who owns who.  Do I own my land or does the government?  Can I do what I want with my property or do I have to ask big brother first?  In a free society individuals should be allowed to buy and sell their property without the permission of the government.  Frederic Bastiat once said, “Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.”  There is no greater an example of then the case involving these two families.  The local government was okay with the families selling lemonade as long as the government got a piece of the action.  Entrepreneurs shouldn’t be shackled down by red tape and regulations and as these families found out the government stifles business rather than helps it.