27 March 2008 142 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

My dad’s told me in the past that he votes Republican because he’s a business man. As a general rule, after all, Republicans are supposed to be better for business. I’ve been intrigued by this idea for a while: one political party is better for people running businesses.

I wonder why there’s even an idea that one political party would focus more on business than another — after all, encouraging businesses to grow implies that one is encouraging the economy and generally making life better for everyone. And Democrats do seem to make some effort in the direction of encouraging small businesses — they tend to lead Congressional committees on small business and support the SBA.

So what do Republicans do for business owners? They try to lower taxes. I think my father really votes Republican because that political party advocates letting him keep a larger chunk of his money. He wants control over his money, rather than funding federal alphabet soup organizations that may provide him with a few resources.

I’m not saying which approach to helping business is right. I have no interest in getting into a partisan debate. Instead, I think the more important issue is the lack of discussion about business, entrepreneurship and money in the current campaigns. Sure, we hear plenty about the economy, but small business issues are entirely ignored by all three of the big candidates. The real focus has been health care — and while many small business owners struggle with health care coverage. Of course, that focus has looked at how changing health care affects certain demographics that usually don’t include too many small business owners.

I want a debate limited to talking about business, rather than security, health care plans or the economy. Furthermore, I want to hear that any of the candidates have some experience with small business — and I can tell you now that they don’t. John McCain has either been in the military or in politics his entire life, with the exception of a brief tenure as vice president of his father-in-law’s company. Hillary Clinton has worked a lawyer, but hasn’t really had to struggle with building her own practice. Barack Obama took the non-profit and academic route to politics.

Partisan politics don’t worry me. But the fact that none of the candidates seem to have taken an interest in encourage small businesses and entrepreneurs bothers the heck out of me. After all, politics affects my bottom line just as much as it affects big companies like Haliburton and Bear Sterns.