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Lessons from a Lemonade Stand: An Unconventional Guide to Government
There’s nothing quite like seeing a child’s entrepreneurial endeavor be shut down by police officers or bureaucrats. But while that child’s hope for a quick buck may be dashed, their experience provides them - and you, through this audiobook - invaluable insights into government and law.
Are all laws legitimate? And does winning a popularity contest (also called an election) give somebody the authority to boss you around? What if the government outlaws something you need to do? Is it okay to break the law if doing what’s right has been classified as wrong?
Surprising, engaging, and filled with examples, Lessons from a Lemonade Stand offers essential answers for teenagers and adults looking to better understand the world we live in.
"The ideas of freedom can heal our world and improve our lives. Lessons from a Lemonade Stand provides an ample supply of this much-needed medicine. My prescription for the rising generation? Read this book!" - Lawrence W. Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education
"Take all the sweet platitudes you’ve ever heard about government - these wise public servants are innocently pursuing the common good! Government gets its just powers from our consent! - roll them into a ball, and throw them away. In their place, read Lessons from a Lemonade Stand, which contains more plain truth about the nature of government than any student ever heard in what we laughingly call our institutions of higher learning." - Tom Woods, New York Times best-selling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History
Are all laws legitimate? And does winning a popularity contest (also called an election) give somebody the authority to boss you around? What if the government outlaws something you need to do? Is it okay to break the law if doing what’s right has been classified as wrong?
Surprising, engaging, and filled with examples, Lessons from a Lemonade Stand offers essential answers for teenagers and adults looking to better understand the world we live in.
"The ideas of freedom can heal our world and improve our lives. Lessons from a Lemonade Stand provides an ample supply of this much-needed medicine. My prescription for the rising generation? Read this book!" - Lawrence W. Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education
"Take all the sweet platitudes you’ve ever heard about government - these wise public servants are innocently pursuing the common good! Government gets its just powers from our consent! - roll them into a ball, and throw them away. In their place, read Lessons from a Lemonade Stand, which contains more plain truth about the nature of government than any student ever heard in what we laughingly call our institutions of higher learning." - Tom Woods, New York Times best-selling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History
Audible Audio
Published December 8, 2017
68 people are currently reading
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About the author
Connor Boyack
92 books251 followersConnor Boyack is founder and president of Libertas Institute, a libertarian think tank in Utah. In that capacity, he has spearheaded important policy reforms dealing with property rights, civil liberties, transparency, surveillance, and education freedom.
Connor is the author of several books, including the new Tuttle Twins series that teaches the principles of liberty to young children. Other books include Latter-day Liberty: A Gospel Approach to Government and Politics and its companion, Latter-day Responsibility: Choosing Liberty through Personal Accountability.
Connor's work has been publicly praised by former Representative Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Tom Woods, and other nationally recognized figures. He is a frequent commentator on current events and has appeared in local, national, and international interviews to publicize and comment on his work.
Connor is the author of several books, including the new Tuttle Twins series that teaches the principles of liberty to young children. Other books include Latter-day Liberty: A Gospel Approach to Government and Politics and its companion, Latter-day Responsibility: Choosing Liberty through Personal Accountability.
Connor's work has been publicly praised by former Representative Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Tom Woods, and other nationally recognized figures. He is a frequent commentator on current events and has appeared in local, national, and international interviews to publicize and comment on his work.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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July 15, 2022A quick and easy read. I'm not sure if I agree with all of his foundational principles: God-given rights, relationship between the individual and the government, civil disobedience. These are issues that I am constantly thinking through. Regardless of where I end up landing on these matters, this book gave me an idea for a project for my senior civics class. I want them to find one state, county, or city law that they don't agree with and develop a campaign to get it removed or amended.
January 14, 2018
Who knew lemonade was a gateway drug to anarchism? Beginning with the true story of several girls who were bullied and fined by their local Officer not-so Friendly because they were selling delicious beverages without a permit from the city, Connor Bayack asks readers old and new a question: what does it mean to be lawful? Where do laws come from, and what happens when laws support oppression, or suppress something innocent or even good? In a short work that draws from Frederic Bastiat, Hannah Arendt, and Monty Python, Lessons from a Lemonade Stand is an education in law, and rights, as well as an appeal for youngsters to go forth and smash the state. Or at least, sell lemonade and braid hair without a license.
Although Lessons from a Lemonade Stand is written for teenagers, the content is by no means juvenile, exploring as it does the nature of law, rights, and the legitimacy of government. Drawing on Frederic Bastiat’s The Law, Boyack argues that everyone has natural rights which exist regardless of any government or other person’s respect of them, and that natural law exists to protect these rights. Because the natural law is based on the respect and protection of these rights, laws cannot violate them and retain their own legitimacy. The same is true for governments, which are organized to protect these rights: its existence is predicated on those rights being respected, and thus it cannot do what is unlawful for the people who created it do. Legitimacy also requires consent, since the government has no life beyond what its members give it. There is then a difference between something being bad because it violates natural rights – theft and murder being the two most obvious -- and something being bad because some entity, be it a gang or a federal regulatory board, has declared it bad. Similarly, there is a difference between the natural rights guarding life, liberty, and property, and the statutory ‘rights' created by governments, which vary widely from place to place and often involve infringing upon the natural rights of others. Having established the difference between violations of the natural vs statutory law, Boyack then reviews a heroes panel of people, many of them young, who have stood for what was ‘right’ against the government’s actions. They stood in the US, in Germany, in Egypt, in Pakistan – across the world, people recognize that just because the ‘government’ says something is right doesn’t make it so. Even those with the best of intentions can go dead wrong when they violate the rights of others.
There’s a lot of information compressed in this little book and it’s full of real-world examples that will add a little fire to the blood. I'd never heard of Helmuth Hübener, the youngest boy (17) to ever be sentenced to death by the 'people's court' in Nazi-controlled Berlin. The moment when a person realizes that truth and right exist independent of authority -- that police, or teachers, or politicians can be absolutely wrong -- is the moment that a person begins their own journey as an independent thinker and human being. Although I'm in the choir a book like this is preaching to, I also found its review of law helpful.
Connor Boyack is head of the Libertas Institute, which in Utah exists to fight the lemonade police and others. In addition to organizing legislative challenges to casual tyranny, Boyack also writes children's books about the principles of economics, politics, and liberty. My favorite title is The Tuttle Twins and the Road to Surfdom. His illustrator is Elijah Stanfield.
Although Lessons from a Lemonade Stand is written for teenagers, the content is by no means juvenile, exploring as it does the nature of law, rights, and the legitimacy of government. Drawing on Frederic Bastiat’s The Law, Boyack argues that everyone has natural rights which exist regardless of any government or other person’s respect of them, and that natural law exists to protect these rights. Because the natural law is based on the respect and protection of these rights, laws cannot violate them and retain their own legitimacy. The same is true for governments, which are organized to protect these rights: its existence is predicated on those rights being respected, and thus it cannot do what is unlawful for the people who created it do. Legitimacy also requires consent, since the government has no life beyond what its members give it. There is then a difference between something being bad because it violates natural rights – theft and murder being the two most obvious -- and something being bad because some entity, be it a gang or a federal regulatory board, has declared it bad. Similarly, there is a difference between the natural rights guarding life, liberty, and property, and the statutory ‘rights' created by governments, which vary widely from place to place and often involve infringing upon the natural rights of others. Having established the difference between violations of the natural vs statutory law, Boyack then reviews a heroes panel of people, many of them young, who have stood for what was ‘right’ against the government’s actions. They stood in the US, in Germany, in Egypt, in Pakistan – across the world, people recognize that just because the ‘government’ says something is right doesn’t make it so. Even those with the best of intentions can go dead wrong when they violate the rights of others.
There’s a lot of information compressed in this little book and it’s full of real-world examples that will add a little fire to the blood. I'd never heard of Helmuth Hübener, the youngest boy (17) to ever be sentenced to death by the 'people's court' in Nazi-controlled Berlin. The moment when a person realizes that truth and right exist independent of authority -- that police, or teachers, or politicians can be absolutely wrong -- is the moment that a person begins their own journey as an independent thinker and human being. Although I'm in the choir a book like this is preaching to, I also found its review of law helpful.
Connor Boyack is head of the Libertas Institute, which in Utah exists to fight the lemonade police and others. In addition to organizing legislative challenges to casual tyranny, Boyack also writes children's books about the principles of economics, politics, and liberty. My favorite title is The Tuttle Twins and the Road to Surfdom. His illustrator is Elijah Stanfield.
November 1, 2022
Connor Boyak uses the true story of several girls who were bullied and fined by their local police force and bureaucracy because they were selling delicious beverages without a permit as a launch pad to discuss liberty versus tyranny. He makes their lemonade stand an excellent analogy for the modern clash between freedom and the state.
Boyak starts by asking the obvious questions:
Wouldn't it be easier to simply comply—to pay the money and pass the inspections and get the permission slip?
But, whatever happened to simply having some fun and making some money without all the bureaucracy and red tape? Whatever happened to having freedom?
Before you know it he's asking you "What is a law? Why should you obey laws? Is there ever a reason you should not?"
Then he takes you off the hook and begins to explain. With the help of Frédéric Bastiat, Thomas Jefferson, and John Locke he explains natural rights (for example: life, liberty and property) and natural law (self-evident laws like the law of gravity and thou shall not murder).
Then Boyak explains positive rights and positive law with the aid of the 1936 Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Positive rights did not exist until the government created (and enforced) them. These rights would include the right to rest and leisure or the right to maintenance (being taken care of) in old age and also in case of sickness or loss of capacity to work or the right to education.
He conducts a wonderful discussion of natural law versus positive law. In natural law, your only duty is to not do things to others that violate their rights. For this reason, natural rights are sometimes referred to as “negative rights,” because the action required of other people is negative, or not doing something. Your right to life carries a negative duty on others to not kill you.
Just as negative rights lead to negative duties, positive rights create positive duties. And rather than not doing something to others, positive duties mean that you must do certain things for other people. A positive right of old people to be cared for means that younger people must be forced to pay for that maintenance. Saying people have the right to education means that everybody has to pay money to hire teachers to make it happen.
Boyak points out that positive law has been around as long as governments have; no known government has confined itself entirely to natural law. As long as governments have been bossing people around, those in power have been coming up with arguments to try to justify their mandates as legitimate and deserving of our obedience.
So if you've ever had that gut reaction against an idiotic law or an unreasonable bureaucracy—the incensed feeling that they're just plain wrong - Boyack confirms that your gut is correct.
He builds a case for civil disobedience with principled, logical arguments. Furthermore he supports these arguments with some very colorful and outrageous real life stories. Lessons from a Lemonade Stand provides crucial distinctions between what’s legal and what’s right, states and governments, and obedience versus justice.
Boyak starts by asking the obvious questions:
Wouldn't it be easier to simply comply—to pay the money and pass the inspections and get the permission slip?
But, whatever happened to simply having some fun and making some money without all the bureaucracy and red tape? Whatever happened to having freedom?
Before you know it he's asking you "What is a law? Why should you obey laws? Is there ever a reason you should not?"
Then he takes you off the hook and begins to explain. With the help of Frédéric Bastiat, Thomas Jefferson, and John Locke he explains natural rights (for example: life, liberty and property) and natural law (self-evident laws like the law of gravity and thou shall not murder).
Then Boyak explains positive rights and positive law with the aid of the 1936 Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Positive rights did not exist until the government created (and enforced) them. These rights would include the right to rest and leisure or the right to maintenance (being taken care of) in old age and also in case of sickness or loss of capacity to work or the right to education.
He conducts a wonderful discussion of natural law versus positive law. In natural law, your only duty is to not do things to others that violate their rights. For this reason, natural rights are sometimes referred to as “negative rights,” because the action required of other people is negative, or not doing something. Your right to life carries a negative duty on others to not kill you.
Just as negative rights lead to negative duties, positive rights create positive duties. And rather than not doing something to others, positive duties mean that you must do certain things for other people. A positive right of old people to be cared for means that younger people must be forced to pay for that maintenance. Saying people have the right to education means that everybody has to pay money to hire teachers to make it happen.
Boyak points out that positive law has been around as long as governments have; no known government has confined itself entirely to natural law. As long as governments have been bossing people around, those in power have been coming up with arguments to try to justify their mandates as legitimate and deserving of our obedience.
So if you've ever had that gut reaction against an idiotic law or an unreasonable bureaucracy—the incensed feeling that they're just plain wrong - Boyack confirms that your gut is correct.
He builds a case for civil disobedience with principled, logical arguments. Furthermore he supports these arguments with some very colorful and outrageous real life stories. Lessons from a Lemonade Stand provides crucial distinctions between what’s legal and what’s right, states and governments, and obedience versus justice.
December 12, 2017
Suitable for teens or adults who are new to thinking about what makes a law a good law vs. a bad law and what to do in the face of bad laws.
Very accessible, with plenty of information for further learning.
Very accessible, with plenty of information for further learning.
February 10, 2023
This book has a lot of great information in it. I read it to my kids. It didn't keep their interest as much but I found the information very useful.
April 14, 2023
Great view on natural laws. Become informed.
January 17, 2018
This book explains important concepts without using a lot of the buzzwords that plague discussions about freedom. It's well-written and a great primer for anyone trying to understand the proper role of government in their life. There is enough meat that you'll undoubtedly learn something new, but it's easy enough to comprehend that you'll be comfortable recommending it to others who may just be starting to explore freedom concepts.
I absolutely loved the book. We'd be doing our kids a great favor by requiring them to read this book instead of Lord of the Flies and A Day No Pigs Would Die.
The book has one minor flaw: one instance of improper use of the word "liberal". It should be okay as long as Jeffrey Tucker doesn't find out.
I absolutely loved the book. We'd be doing our kids a great favor by requiring them to read this book instead of Lord of the Flies and A Day No Pigs Would Die.
The book has one minor flaw: one instance of improper use of the word "liberal". It should be okay as long as Jeffrey Tucker doesn't find out.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews