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Back in the early 90s I got so fed up with the municipality where I did most of my business, that I decided it was time for a change. Indeed, I filled out the paperwork and I ran for City Council. It wasn't so important for me to get elected, rather than to make sure that small businesses in the community got a fair shake. While running for city Council I got my share of publicity, newspaper articles, radio interviews, and participated in the local debates which were televised.
Indeed, it wasn't much different than what we are currently watching as the GOP candidates vie for the primary ticket of the Republican Party. The only difference perhaps is that the folks are dressed a lot nicer, and everyone is wearing makeup. The questions asked from the audience, and various political players throughout the community wasn't much different, in fact, I'd say many of the challenges in the municipality were quite controversy let the time, and there was mud-slinging of course - that's politics.
Now then, I am completely bothered by the fact that we have the same problems we did back in the early 90s in that small city, as we do throughout our nation today. It is as if Washington DC doesn't care, it's not as if they don't know of the problems. Surely, they have to know, as there are a number of members of Congress who started out as small businesspeople. The challenges of our small businesses in the United States are nothing new, but it's time that we made a paradigm shift. If our current administration can't do it, we need to remove and replace them in the 2012 election.
If our leadership in Washington DC, and at the state level will not listen to the plight of the small business person, and fix some of these onerous regulations and rules which are duplicated through the various levels of government, then we cannot have full employment in our economy. Ten percent of the American population owns their own business - they are self-employed - that 10% employees 60 to 70% of Americans.
Yes, we need to make things easier on our large corporations as well, but we shouldn't bend over backwards for them without also doing the same for our small business community. The corporations have been making money hand over fist, and through crony capitalism we have engaged in corporate welfare and we've spent our treasury into oblivion. No, it's not all the lobbyists' fault or the corporations' fault, we also have outrageous expenses and social programs too of course. Nevertheless, the small business person is competing in unfair playing field and at a disadvantage.
There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal about all this titled; "Want Jobs? Cut Local Regulations," by Chip Mellor and Dick Carpenter (published on July 28, 2011). It was an interesting article to read, but it is nothing different than what I had through back in the early 90s, nothing has changed, and we've been promised as a small business community that things would change, but these politicians we sent to Washington DC - are no doing what must be done to get this country back to full-steam.
Well, this is where the rubber hits the road, the Obama Administration must lead by example, and host a "red magic marker committee" filled with small business people to go through all these rules and help reduce regulations at the federal level, thus setting an example for state, county, and local governments to do the same, or we just will not have our employment numbers return. Our economy cannot fire on all cylinders, until we stop harassing and over regulating our small business community. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,500 articles by August 24th or 25th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
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