Over at atrios.blogspot.com, there's an entry wondering why more small businesses don't support "liberal" ideals, because, in the author's eyes, they're obviously more small business friendly.
The answer is obvious to me. The democratic party has for a long time now (since FDR) supported policies that are very business-unfriendly, pushing an increase in meddlesome agencies like the EPA, OSHA, SEC, SBA, FTC, etc. Maybe they're well-intentioned, but well intentions doesn't cut it. Congress has given these agencies broad discretion to enforce laws with little or no cap on their power. Their fiat rulings are hard to oppose or defy, and when someone does stand up to them, it costs them time and money and often jail time. And their decisions are largely arbitrary, based on nothing more than the person prejudices of the "enforcement officers".
Not only that, Democrats push policies that put a lot of business at a disadvantage by requiring companies to hire minority firms first, rather than seeking out the small businesses that do the best job.
Democrats wish to reinstate the inheritence tax, which would unduly burden the children of entrepeneurs who would inherit their family's successful businesses.
And Democrats wish to increase taxes on the very same upwardly mobile entrepeneurs who are making money because apparently the money they earn in due reward for their hard work isn't really their's after all. It now somehow belongs to society, and government, who thinks it knows better how to spend that money.
Small business people don't like the Democrats, and so called "liberal" ideas because they represent the worst kind of interventionist meddlesome government that makes the lives of small business owners harder. They impede the best efforts of those working the hardest to make a good life for themselves.
That's why most small businessmen throw their lot behind the Republican party.
Of course, that is not without its own peril, as the Republicans would like to be able to control what people can and cannot buy. Republicans actively seek to reward larger businesses with laws granting them government-enforced monopolies that are unassailable in court. And they still wish to tax people for useless agencies, though not to the extent of the Democrats.
Any questions?
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