There's a great right-leaning children's book that was published by Katherine DeBrecht in 2005 called, "Help Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!" I've read it for my kids, even though my wife and Democrat-voting in-laws refuse to!
The product description from Amazon reads:
This full-color illustrated book is a fun way for parents to teach young children the valuable lessons of conservatism. Written in simple text, readers can follow along with Tommy and Lou as they open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland.
Fiction? Sure. But can such a nightmarish story come true?
It did this week in Oregon. Last week this adorable 7-year-old girl’s lemonade stand was shut down because she failed to procure a $120 temporary restaurant license. (Because naturally 7-year-olds tend to have $120 lying around in case they’d like to sell 50-cent cups of lemonade.)
The Oregonian (via Drudge) reports:
Portland lemonade stand runs into health inspectors, needs $120 license to operate
Published: Wednesday, August 04, 2010, 6:19 PM Updated: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 10:30 AM
Helen Jung, The OregonianIt’s hardly unusual to hear small-business owners gripe about licensing requirements or complain that heavy-handed regulations are driving them into the red.
So when Multnomah County shut down an enterprise last week for operating without a license, you might just sigh and say, there they go again.
Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license.
Turns out that kids’ lemonade stands—those constants of summertime—are supposed to get a permit in Oregon, particularly at big events that happen to be patrolled regularly by county health inspectors. …
Drip … drip … drip … You hear that? That’s the sound of our liberty slowly slipping away.
Looks like Miss Murphy just got her first lesson in liberalism. Let's hope she never forgets this teachable moment.
UPDATE 8/6: Here's some more from the Oregonian article (this time via Allapundit at HotAir):
Even before her daughter had finished making the first batch of lemonade, a man walked up to buy a 50-cent cup.
"They wanted to support a little 7-year-old to earn a little extra summer loot," she said. "People know what's going on."
Even so, Julie was careful about making the lemonade, cleaning her hands with hand sanitizer, using a scoop for the bagged ice and keeping everything covered when it wasn't in use, Fife said.
After 20 minutes, a "lady with a clipboard" came over and asked for their license. When Fife explained they didn't have one, the woman told them they would need to leave or possibly face a $500 fine.
Surprised, Fife started to pack up. The people staffing the booths next to them encouraged the two to stay, telling them the inspectors had no right to kick them out of the neighborhood gathering. They also suggested that they give away the lemonade and accept donations instead and one of them made an announcement to the crowd to support the lemonade stand.
That's when business really picked up—and two inspectors came back, Fife said. Julie started crying, while her mother packed up and others confronted the inspectors. "It was a very big scene," Fife said.
First they came for the lemonade stands ...
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