The story of the police in Denver shutting down a kids’ lemonade stand on Memorial Day weekend made big news. Everyone got mad that the government would do such a thing, and that neighbors called the cops on little kids. But that’s not the big story.

The real story is that the cops completely made up the laws they were enforcing. There is no law requiring children to get a permit or forbidding children from setting up a lemonade stand. It is the cops who weren’t obeying the law. The people should have arrested them. The cops expect people to just obey them, even when they’re lying through their teeth.

This isn’t anything unique. I can find dozens of examples of cops telling people they’re required to carry ID, or making up other laws. In fact, it’s happened to me.

This has happened because most people do whatever the cops say. We need to get back to defying the government as the founding fathers taught us. We need to teach our children to not respect cops, and to not respect the law.