RALEIGH — Like many Americans, two of my relatives are crossing their fingers, hoping to avoid layoffs. One works in a field tied to home building. The other works in IT and has earned a family reputation for being a scrappy entrepreneur with a knack for creative ways to make extra cash.

Durham resident Steve Pruner reminds me of my scrappy relative. Rather than wait passively for someone to hand him a job, the unemployed pharmaceutical industry recruiter assembled the fixings and equipment for a hot dog cart and began selling the dogs near Duke University Hospital. As Pruner explained on the Raleigh radio show I co-host, people liked his dogs. More importantly, he was making money to support himself, his chronically ill brother, and a mentally handicapped daughter.

Then government came calling.

That’s when Pruner’s plan for self-sufficiency turned into a hard-to-swallow bureaucratic mess. Durham not only requires a vending permit but a health permit as well. The health permit is conditional upon securing a partnership with a restaurant or commissary to function as home base. Pruner wondered why any restaurant owner who doesn’t know him from Adam — and who might view him as competition — would welcome a competitor onto their turf.

Rather than whine, Pruner devised a no-muss, no-fuss solution to county concerns about food safety — he repeatedly invited the county to inspect his cart and see that it was safe, clean, and ready for the seal of approval.

No dice, said Durham officials. But why not? If safety is the issue — not simply enforcing one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter rules — why not inspect Pruner’s cart?

After he rebuffed warnings to comply or close the business, the county sued to declare him a public health hazard. Then, in late October, cops appeared at Pruner’s cart, cuffed him, and hauled the 57-year-old to jail. As Carolina Journal‘s Sara Burrows reported, Pruner plans a legal challenge to the permanent injunction issued by Durham County Superior Court. “I’m not asking for welfare or food stamps,” Pruner told Burrows. “I’m just asking to be able to work on the same corner you can legally beg on.”

Score one for rigid government licensing and zero for a guy trying to make a living.

For the 36 Benedictine monks at St. Joseph Abbey in Louisiana, their licensing crime is living their commitment to simplicity and helping provide comfort to those suffering one of the worst experiences of life — the death of a loved one. The monks make simple wooden caskets by hand and sell them to the public. As The Wall Street Journal noted, even the pillowcases are hand-sewn, and each casket is blessed before it leaves the Abbey. The monks use the proceeds to pay for food and other necessities.

Then government came calling.

In Louisiana, caskets are deemed “funeral merchandise.” Only licensed funeral directors can sell them. Conveniently for the industry, most members of the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors — the folks who control licensing — are industry insiders who clearly don’t want competition. The cease-and-desist order was issued in a flash.

To break free of casket crime, the monks must apprentice at a funeral home, pass the test to become licensed funeral directors, and buy expensive tools of the trade such as embalming equipment.

Bye bye monastery, hello funeral home.

Failing to comply could land the monks in jail for up to six months. “I don’t relish that thought,” commented Abbott Justin Brown to The Wall Street Journal.

Heaven help them.

The monks’ fate is now in the hands of the Institute for Justice. In August, IJ joined with the Abbey and filed a federal constitutional lawsuit against the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, seeking an affirmation of the monks’ right to make a living here on earth while helping others get closer to heaven.

In a free society, there is a place for narrow, reasonable licensing rules to safeguard the public from physical harm and fraud. But in a free society, every person has a right to profit from his or her labor. Mr. Pruner and the Benedictine monks are being deprived of that right.

Donna Martinez is co-host of Carolina Journal Radio and a morning host on WPTF 680 AM in Raleigh.