David McElroy

It’s a story that always produces outrage. Police see a couple of kids with a lemonade stand and shut them down because they don’t have a business license. The news stories make it clear that the police are jerks and that the poor kids are being victimized. Readers and viewers are outraged. Then we wait until the next time it happens and do the same story all over again.

The latest example of the predictable story is in Georgia. A couple of girls opened a lemonade stand to raise money to finance a trip to a theme park. Police shut them down because they didn’t have business licenses that would have cost $180 for the year. People are outraged. Again.

I have sympathy for the kids. I really do. But what I’d like to know is why stories such as this don’t remind us of the flip side. Obviously, it’s unreasonable to think that kids should have to have a city’s permission to sell lemonade, but isn’t it just as obvious that nobody should need government permission to conduct business? The only people whose permission you should need are your customers — and they vote with their purchases.

I’m glad that stories such as this one get attention, but I wish people would draw a different lesson. It’s not that kids need to be exempt from draconian, stupid laws. It’s that the draconian, stupid laws need to go away.

In Wildwood, N.J., somebody apparently thought it would be funny to post a sign in front of a small apartment building reading, “Parking for whites only.” Is it a stupid prank or is it “the worst thing anybody can do to anybody”?

We can all agree that racism is a bad thing. Right? But the U.S. culture has become so hypersensitive about the issue that it seems most “right-thinking people” go into overreaction mode when it comes up, because everyone seems to be competing to see who can be the most non-racist.

The latest example of this hyper-overreaction comes from a Philadelphia television station and the mayor of Wildwood, N.J. Here’s what happened:

A black couple have owned a small apartment complex near the beach in Wildwood for 11 years. They’ve apparently had minor problems with neighbors who don’t care for the apartments, although it’s not clear why. (Homeowners never like renters and apartment complexes, so I assume it’s just the standard reasons.) This past Wednesday, someone placed a sign on a pole in front of the apartments saying, “Parking for whites only.” Instead of taking the paper sign down and going about her business while muttering about the insensitivity and stupidity of some folks — which would have been reasonable — the owner took the sign to city police, who are investigating the “crime.” Mayor Ernie Troiano apologized on behalf of the city and told the TV station:

“This is the worst thing anybody can do to anybody. We never had problems with this neighborhood. For someone to do that, that’s a sick person.”

Really? This is truly the worst thing anybody can do, Mr. Mayor? Do you understand that this is just four ignorant words on a paper sign? How does it compare to killing someone? How about stealing people’s money? Is it worse than rape? Would you rather worry about someone posting that sign or about military aircraft dropping bombs on your home when you’ve done nothing to provoke it? Is the sign worse than police wrongly raiding a home, terrorizing people and killing your animals, then just saying, “Oooops,” afterwards?

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You might remember the story from last week about the woman in suburban Detroit who was facing jail time because her suburb didn’t like her growing veggies in her yard. The good news is that public pressure has forced the city to drop the charges. The bad news is that she’s still facing possible jail time for another offense. The bureaucrats are determined to make an example of her, it seems.

Although the city has dropped the charges about her vegetable garden, she was also charged with failure to have a license for her dogs. After she was charged in June, she immediately bought the license and showed the paperwork to officials. The woman’s lawyer said that charges are normally dropped in such a case after a person buys the license, but the city is pursuing this charge.

The lesson: Don’t make bureaucrats angry. If they want to punish you, they’ll find a way to do it.

Note: Hat tip to the Agitator for alerting me to this update on the story.

Update: At her blog Friday afternoon, Julie Bass clarifies and corrects some things which the newspaper story apparently got wrong. She says the city still might reinstate the charge related to the garden, because it was dismissed by a judge without prejudice.