The 250th anniversary of America is a celebration of our country’s principles and the countless Americans who’ve put those principles into practice.
One group of Americans that embodies the promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is our nation’s small business owners. They come from all walks of life — from all races, religions, and creeds, united by the entrepreneurial spirit, the drive to create and build. Their efforts, and those of the small and independent business owners who came before, make America the economic envy of the world.
From the beginning, we have been a nation of small business owners. Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, more than half were entrepreneurs. They ran printing shops, retail stores, farms, mills, distilleries, fisheries, and more. They created a nation defined by the freedom to set off on your own, to hang your own shingle, to find success by helping others succeed.
This has been the American story ever since. It was small-scale farmers who cultivated the heartland as the nation spread west. It was shopkeepers who anchored new boom towns from Kansas to California. It was enterprising entrepreneurs who built the first factories back in the east. And it was small business owners who became some of America’s most consequential leaders. Abraham Lincoln started a small law practice in Illinois. Teddy Roosevelt owned a ranch in the Dakotas. Ulysses S. Grant was a salesman and farmer in Ohio. All of them shared in the American dream of owning, operating, and growing a small business.
To this day, small businesses continue to be the foundation of our economy. America now has 36 million small businesses, and they create about 9 out of every 10 net new jobs. They support every imaginable charitable cause, from Little League Baseball to school bake sales. And yes, every company on Wall Street has its roots on Main Street. There’s no such thing as a big business that didn’t start small.
But the vast majority of small business owners aren’t trying to be the next big thing, the next Apple or artificial intelligence start-up. They just want to build their business, create jobs and opportunities, and support their local communities.
Small businesses ought to be celebrated on this historic 250th anniversary. But they also need to be defended. The quintessential American entrepreneurial dream is always in danger when the heavy hand of government comes knocking.
Unlike Wall Street, Main Street businesses don’t have the armies of lawyers and accountants to make sense of the mandate mess, so the burden falls heaviest on them. Unreasonable government regulations rank among the 10 most severe problems for small business owners. Every day, the million-plus federal mandates decimate small businesses while preventing many others from ever springing to life.
One such regulation is the unconstitutional Beneficial Ownership Information mandate, which threatens heavy fines and even jail time if a small business owner doesn’t regularly turn over sensitive information to a secretive government agency. Large corporate competitors and Wall Street are exempt from this mandate — it only applies to Main Street small businesses. It’s far past time for Congress to get its act together and codify President Donald Trump’s executive order protecting American small businesses from this invasive regulation.
My organization hears from small business owners about excessive government burdens every day. It’s not just taxes and red tape. The cost of healthcare is another major concern, because small businesses typically pay more than big businesses. Federal and state workforce and labor mandates make it hard for Main Street to hire and grow. Small business owners aren’t looking for a handout — they just want the government to get out of the way and let them build, hire, and serve their communities.
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This Fourth of July, people and politicians of all political stripes will promise to continue the hard work of realizing America’s promise. But the single most important way to make that happen is to unleash the country’s entrepreneurial potential. The next generation of small businesses needs what our nation’s founders and previous generations had, namely, the freedom to strive for success without unnecessary interference or unjust roadblocks.
For 250 years, America has been built by small business owners making the most of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The success of our next 250 years depends on small and independent businesses that continue to create opportunities by bringing these ideals to life for the benefit of all.
Brad Close is president of the National Federation of Independent Business.