Elaine decided to educate her children about the law and “engage them in the process of changing it.” For four years, the organization I lead, Libertas Institute, had been advocating for an amendment to the law in our home state of Utah that would exempt home-based businesses from licenses and fees. During each year’s legislative session, Elaine would testify in support of the bill alongside several of her children, who would explain why they felt the licensure laws were unreasonable. We repeatedly lost, facing opposition from lobbyists representing the cities and counties who benefitted from all the fee revenue small business owners were required to pay.
On our fourth try, we finally won—the bill passed the Utah Legislature and was signed into law. Even better, we made a last-minute change that made the proposal even better: children under the age of 18 would no longer be required to obtain any business licenses, health inspection permits, or pay fees to the government. For them, in Utah, there is now a free market.
Here is the language that we settled on:
A municipality may not require a license or permit for a business that is operated:
(i) only occasionally; and
(ii) by an individual who is under 18 years of age;
That’s it. Lemonade stands in one state were liberated through this simple amendment. And while plenty of renegade lemonade stands were previously operating in Utah year after year, now they are fully compliant, since an unjust law was amended away into oblivion—the state’s power was limited.
It’s not always that easy; the state does not easily relinquish its power. Political efforts take some time and are often unsuccessful. But in case you’d like to try, consider looking up who your state representative and senator are and asking them to sponsor legislation that does the same. Tell them that Utah has led the way, and you’d like your state to follow. And if you’d like an organizational ally like Elaine had in Libertas Institute, find your state’s free market think tank on the map at the State Policy Network website: SPN.org. Tell them Libertas Institute sent you their way.
Good luck!
NOTES
Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience,” 12.
“The Libertas Institute Makes Sure Kids Keep Their Lemonade Stands in Utah,” Atlas Network, June 23, 2017, https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/the-libertas-institute-makes-sure-kids-keep-their-lemonade-stands-in-utah.
RECOMMENDED READING
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Intrigued by what you read about in this book? Here is a brief list, in no particular order, of important political, economic, and philosophical books that will expand your knowledge and help you better understand the ideas introduced in Lessons from a Lemonade Stand. Many of these books can be found for free online.
Frédéric Bastiat, The Law — This essay, written in 1850 by a French political economist, serves as a great introduction to understanding what true laws are and should be. Bastiat’s writing is especially enjoyable because of his wit and sarcasm used to attack false ideas.
Auberon Herbert, The Right and Wrong of Compulsion — Herbert briefly served in Parliament in England, but quickly became frustrated with the status quo. He formed the Party of Individual Liberty to advocate for “thorough” individualism and this essay, written in 1885, was the party’s manifesto making the case for voluntaryism.
Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson — Because an understanding of economics is essential to comprehend law and moral order, this book is helpful to introduce core concepts to the reader who may be unfamiliar with economic theory. Written in 1946 while Hazlitt worked for the New York Times, the book is a persuasive rebuttal to many popular, destructive economic fallacies.
Murray Rothbard, Anatomy of the State —As a brief essay, this quick read makes a concise case for why the state is a predatory entity that increases in size and strength at our expense. An economist and historian, Rothbard published this powerful essay in 1974 to expose the state’s true nature and pinpoint the main problem underlying a history of conquest and carnage by governments around the world.
Ron Paul, Liberty Defined — Why did people of such differing sociopolitical backgrounds join together in support of two presidential campaigns for former congressman Ron Paul? The candidate addresses that question in a comprehensive case for liberty in this book, demonstrating the non-partisan and widespread appeal of taking a principled stance on the issues.
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged — Using fiction to demonstrate the power of ideas, Rand portrays a society in which socialism cannibalizes and alienates the innovators whose contributions are needed and without whom society begins to fall apart. This book is especially helpful in visualizing the effects that laws have on the market.
Murray Rothbard, For a New Liberty — Readers who are persuaded or intrigued by Lessons from a Lemonade Stand will find in Rothbard a deeper and broader inquiry into the basis of law and the case for eliminating the state. Written in 1973, this is an engaging read in which Rothbard aims to explain and defend libertarianism.
F.A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty — This book is the result of four decades of study and thought on the nature of economic, political, and social interactions, and the possibility of a free society. Hayek, a Nobel-prize winning economist, wrote this book in 1960 to explain and defend the importance and impact of freedom.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Connor Boyack is president of Libertas Institute, a free market think tank in Utah. In that capacity, he has spearheaded a number of successful policy reforms in areas such as education reform, civil liberties, government transparency, business deregulation, personal freedom, and more.
Connor is also president of The Association for Teaching Kids Economics, a nationally focused nonprofit training teachers on basic economic principles so they are empowered and motivated to help their students learn more about the free market.
A public speaker and author of over a dozen books, Connor is best known for The Tuttle Twins books, a children’s series introducing young readers to economic, political, and civic principles.
Connor lives near Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife and two homeschooled children.
Find Boyack’s books for sale at LibertasUtah.org/shop/
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