As The Wall Street Journal  recently noted, our country has reached a national consensus that welfare stifles individual initiative. It doesn't help that at the same time that governments are endorsing policies that encourage work, they are also keeping in place regulations and monopolies that discourage people from starting the kinds of small businesses that are often the first step toward self-reliance.

What you may not know, though is that the right to earn an honest living receives less legal protection than the "right" to receive a welfare check. As part of our nationwide campaign to restore constitutional protection for economic liberty, Institute for Justice attorneys have been in several cities across the country conducting research and analysis of licensing regimes and regulations that erect barriers to the pursuit of productive livelihoods.

Check out how these city and state governments stomp on the American Dream for those who need it the most!

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