Did you know that this past Saturday, August 20, 2011 was Lemonade Freedom Day? I didn’t know about it until I saw a video on Facebook. Thank you to my friend Steven Green for posting the video which caught my attention.
Basically, on Saturday, a concerned American Citizen, Robert Fernandes and his family, and I presume other followers set up a lemonade stand on public property in Washington DC. This action follows many incidents of US authorities shutting down childrens’ lemonade stands in various locations around the United States.
What ever happened to common sense? Voltaire, a French Philosopher probably said it best:
Common Sense is not so common.
Watch what happened at Lemonade Freedom Day
It’s true, it seems. In doing a bit of research after seeing the video, I found that Police have even shut down Girl Scouts from selling Girl Scout Cookies on their driveway.
My God. What has happened to my country? It’s scary, to be honest. Sure, we don’t want to have big companies setting up unregulated shops on public property, and there are laws against it. But, for kids to sell Girl Scout Cookies, or lemonade, it’s just common sense that these kids of activities are not a threat to public places, and are just a one-off activity that will not lead to the setting up of commercial businesses on the public property. Are there better things that the Police can do with their time than harassing kids selling cookies or lemonade?
We constantly hear cries that there is not enough money to police the streets. Crimes go unsolved. Some kinds of crimes are not even investigated by the Police any longer, because they don’t have the resources. Just last week our government issued a new policy under which they will only deport illegal aliens who have committed crimes. Uh, isn’t it already a crime to have come into the country illegally. All of this rests on one principle. Common Sense. But, Voltaire already told us about common sense centuries ago.
Our public officials cannot figure out how to run the country. They can’t decide what spending to cut. They can’t decide if we should keep borrowing more money. Yet, the system is being used to bust kids for selling lemonade.
Like I said, what has happened to my country? I have not lived in the USA for the past 11+ years, but I am still an American Citizen. The USA has changed drastically in the years since I left and moved to the Philippines. From what I see, every day I am more and more happy that I made that decision.
Thanks to my friend, Steven A Green for sharing the original video with me.
Always my friend!
wow , what a waste of taxpayer dollars , the police were clueless , talking on their cell phones asking ( what do we do ? ) What do we do , go and arrest real criminals , as you said Bob no common sense .
Hi Craig – Yep… Voltaire was right… common sense is not so common! And we wonder why our government does not function well.
They needed a take taxes gov. needs there hand out
Hi Ronan – Getting the tax on the lemonade will help offset the cost of keeping the criminal lemonade vendors in jail!
lol! ;-D
They've got to get money somewhere, Steven!
Yep!!! And you can bet money they will!
My impression of this video is that it was a set up to provoke a reaction / response of local law enforcement. Placement of the table and sales area is positioned so the capitol building will prominently show in pics and video that is taken. It appears the adults are pitching the sales and not the kids, A pro quality cam corder just happened to be on site for recording the event start to finish. It did not take long for a lot of " Camera Ready Spectators " to show up. The individuals appeared to be politely informed by law enforcement that a permit is required and I feel they were given the opportunity to close up shop and nothing more would have happened.
In a quick view of the Youtube Channel this video is on, the basic theme of this Lemonade video seems consistant with some of the other videos on that channel.
I do feel the police officer that put her hand on the video camera was out of place, what is she trying to hide ?
If these " children " were selling Lemonade from their own ( parents ) yard and well within the property line it would have been a different story if law enforcement came along and tried to shut them down.
Sorry, but I just can't buy this one as kids trying to earn a few dollars selling lemonade.
Hi Bob – I would tend to agree that the adults took too active a role in the sales. I would have preferred to see what happened if it was strictly kids. I think that this was indeed set up to show what would happen, and I have no problem with that. Documenting the actions of the government is something that needs to be done more, IMHO.
Whatever the circumstances, I think that the actions of the police were way out of line. Handcuffing people for selling lemonade? Hauling them to jail? Frankly, that is way over the top in my book. It is certainly a different country from when I was a kid.
There are times when I wish I were younger but I am glad I grew up in the era I did. I will fully agree with you it is an entirely different country from when I was growing up too. There are things I have found there in The Philippines that remind me in some ways of how things used to be here when I was a kid. I am sure you must have found similar things there too.
Indeed, Bob, this is one of the things I find so refreshing about the Philippines!
C'mon folks, these people set the stage, wrote the script with it's pre-defined ending. Then whine & complain at the result they got…c'mon! They wanted the outcome, exactly as they planned. There are parameters & processes for folks who wanna set up shop…first get the permit!… Can you imagine all the stalls that would be set up there… in front of the Capitol building if it was unregulated… wow…out of control! For the good of the broader society, there are rules of behaviour, if these activists want to make a point, then they should not break the law in the first place. Write a new script!
Hi Peter – I agree that they knew in advance what would happen, I believe that is why they did it, to drive home the point. When I was a kid, and I presume you too (I don't know your age compared to mine), kids could set up lemonade stands and such things with no impediment. Now, police are even arresting kids on the property of their home for setting up lemonade stands. I do not believe that these folks are trying to say that people should be able to set up in front of the Capitol like they did, but rather showing that liberty is eroding. I'm on their side.
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