Minnesota experienced a win for liberty recently when the state reformed regulations on in-home food businesses. According to the Institute for Justice, almost every state has regulations, called cottage food laws, that limit the sale of food out of the home. However, until last month Minnesota was one of the strictest states, allowing many bakers to sell their products only at farmers’ markets and events, and capping the amount they could earn annually to $5,000.

On June 29 President Obama published a blog on Huffington Post announcing his “plan to extend overtime protections to nearly 5 million workers in 2016, covering all salaried workers making up to about $50,400 next year.”

Unions are supposed to protect and look out for the best interests of workers. Some believe that without unions, employers would continually take advantage of employees. Why then is one of the largest private-sector unions in the country going forward with plans to cut the pensions of its members?

Since the first federal minimum wage went into effect in 1938, there have been people calling for an increase. Recently, there has been a push for a $15 hourly minimum wage at the federal level, as well as within various state and municipalities. Many of these calls for minimum wage hike have been led by, and funded by, unions. One in particular, Raise the Wage, called for a $15.25 minimum wage in Los Angeles and was funded by unions, including AFL-CIO.

Much of the Bill of Rights is dedicated to protecting accused persons, an action integral to our society. Expanding upon the Sixth Amendment’s granted right to legal counsel, states have put legislation in place that strictly dictates who can practice law. While such regulations aim to protect citizens, they have adverse effects and actually abridge the freedoms we hold dear.

It’s no accident that Hillary Clinton’s first series of events after announcing her candidacy for president comes on April 14th, “Equal Pay Day.” It’s also fitting that the equal pay debate, for which Clinton has been a key spokesperson, is premised on a complete lie. One would expect nothing less from the woman who, just recently, told blatant falsehoods in a hearing about her misconduct as Secretary of State.

Did you watch the Oscars last night? I only caught a few highlights, including Lady Gaga’s excellent tribute to The Sound of Music and Patricia Arquette’s ill-informed diatribe on women’s rights.

For the past year, the Supreme Court has been mulling the case of Harris v. Quinn, in which the state of Illinois was asserting its authority to collect union dues from non-union members working as home health care workers under a Medicare program. The state’s argument was that, since public sector labor unions negotiate contracts that benefit non-union members in terms of higher wages and better working conditions, it would be acceptable to expect these workers to pay union dues in return.

Big labor has always predicated its efforts on an appeal to “workers’ rights,” claiming to fight against exploitation and unfair treatment of employees by powerful corporations who care more about their bottom line than about the safety and well-being of workers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has moved forward a bill to raise the national minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. Not only would raising the minimum wage not help lift anyone out of poverty, but it would put jobs further out of reach for those struggling to find work in the Obamacare economy. Raising the minimum wage is a cruel blow to the poor.