MEAN STREETS: IJ Launches National Defense of Food Vendors

The Institute for Justice has been vindicating the rights of entrepreneurs for the last twenty years.
Across the country, IJ has teamed up with casket makers, florists, hairbraiders, horse teeth-floaters, interior designers, sign-hangers, taxi-drivers, trash haulers, vintners and numerous other Americans to secure their basic right to earn an honest living.
This week, we are proud to [...]

Puppies + Bureaucrats = Federal Free Speech Lawsuit

What do you get when you mix bureaucrats with a bunch of adorable puppies?
In Kim Houghton’s case, you get a major First Amendment lawsuit.

Kim Houghton decided after a successful, 20-year career in advertising that she wanted more.  She wanted to realize her American Dream and become an entrepreneur in a business focused on dogs.
She had [...]

Texas Entrepreneurs Win Fight for Economic Liberty

Carl Mitz is a third-generation horseman.  The Texan is widely known as one of the nation’s best horse dentists.  He’s treated the teeth of over 100,000 horses and has clients in over 30 states.
But Texas bureaucrats tried for years to shut him down.
In a classic case of economic protectionism, Carl and all other Texas equine [...]

Licensing Gone Wild: Armed Government Agents Raiding Barber Shops

Let’s say you have a knack for cutting hair.  If you live in Florida, guess how many hours of government-mandated instruction you’d be forced to sit through before you can become a barber?
1,200.
That’s right, well over a thousand hours.  Plus, you’d have to pay thousands of dollars to cover the cost of your classes and [...]

How to Keep Politics a Game of Special Interests and Insiders

Hey mom and dads, it’s election week!  Does your child like to argue?  Does he like to boss his younger siblings around?  Does he love the sound of his own voice?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, your child is a natural born politician.  Now to ensure his success in the political world, [...]

Why Can’t Chuck Get His Business Off the Ground?

Nationwide, government at every level is requiring more and more of the workforce to get its permission just to earn a living.
In the 1950s, only about 5 percent of the workforce needed a government license to do their job. Today, that number is over 30 percent.  And governments impose all kinds of other [...]

Bulldozing Free Speech on Eminent Domain Abuse

Carla Main wrote an outstanding book called Bulldozed.  A veteran journalist, she brought to life a heart-wrenching, true-life tale of eminent domain abuse in a Texas fishing town.  She told the truth.  And for that, she’s being sued.
Today, Carla is fighting back.
Eminent domain abuse is what happens when land-hungry private developers team up with tax-hungry [...]

Talk About the Bill of Rights, Get 90 Days in Jail

In Washington, DC, talking about the Bill of Rights can land you in jail for 90 days.
Our nation’s capital has a licensing scheme in place that makes it illegal for anyone to “guide or escort” anyone else for hire without first getting the government’s permission. To get the license, which the Washington Post [...]

Licensing Gone Wild: Monks Face Jail for Selling Caskets

Abbot Justin Brown and his fellow monks are being threatened with crippling fines and even jail time.  Their crime?  Selling caskets.
Today, they are fighting back in a big way.

In 1889, a group of monks from Indiana fulfilled their dream of establishing a monastery in the Gulf South.  The monastic lifestyle they embody is simple and [...]

Licensing Gone Wild: Government Bureaucrats Shut Down Crying Little Girl’s Lemonade Stand

Julie Murphy is only seven years old, but she embodies the classic American zeal for entrepreneurship.
She learned about lemonade stands after seeing one in a cartoon.  She got excited and wanted to open one of her own.  And so Julie’s mother worked with her to get everything together and set up shop at a fair [...]

Institute for Justice: The Power of One Entrepreneur Campaign

If government is serious about job creation, it should get out of the way of the entrepreneurs who actually create them.
That is the message of a new campaign launched this week by the Institute for Justice—the nation’s leading legal advocate for economic liberty. A series of studies called The Power of One Entrepreneur highlight the [...]

Barack Obama Cannot, Will Not and Does Not Want to ‘Create Jobs’

As many thrills as he sends up Chris Matthews’ leg and despite his ability to walk on water, Barack Obama like all legislators cannot create jobs.  All any politician can do is take resources from the private sector and allocate them according to his or her own fancy, often towards favored constituencies, at a prohibitive [...]