Entrepreneurship

Democrats' support for "the little guy" extends to the individual entrepreneur, willing to leave the safety of a corporate job to take a risk on a good idea, to reach for the American Dream. If the US economy is based on being the world's creative engine, then entrepreneurship must be encouraged.

Somehow the Republican party has managed to capture the mantle of "business-friendly," presenting its big business favoritism as good for all business. This is a myth we haven't refuted. Government policy friendly to big business puts smaller competitors at a disadvantage. Examples of such policies are complex tax laws, encouragement of skyrocketing health care costs, the use of litigation instead of regulation for consumer protection, turning a blind eye to anti-competitive corporate behavior, and supporting industry consolidation.

We have to start distinguishing large from small businesses, streamline the relationship between government and small companies, and communicate to the public that the entrepreneur is the source of economic growth and jobs that stay in the USA. One thing stopping would-be entrepreneurs from jumping from the safety of corporate America is the cost of health insurance. Today pharmaceutical companies focus their research on long-term disease management because this generates large, stable cash flow. Why cure rheumatoid arthritis when you can make thousands per month over a patient's entire lifetime with Remicade? There is no incentive for drug companies to look for medicines that prevent or cure disease, since by their nature such drugs would have a limited lifespan on the market.

Government can't force companies to focus on less-profitable product lines, but it can foster a competitive market in such products by performing such research under Federal funding, and encourage researchers to commercialize the results as entrepreneurs. This happened extensively under the Clinton administration, contributing to economic growth. Now it needs to be done consistently over a long period to bring down the cost of health care.

Universal access to health care is another concept that would bring down costs. Much of health insurance administration is concerned with determining eligibility for coverage, and a large amount is spent on emergency room care for the uninsured, the most expensive possible way of providing service. Here universal coverage would provide a much more efficient market.

Government policy should serve the needs of small business in many other ways, such as resisting industry consolidation, providing small business capital, punishing anti-competitive corporate behavior, teaching the values and skills of entrepreneurship in schools and universities, providing a streamlined regulatory structure for small businesses with concurrent protection from litigation, protecting intellectual property rights of university researchers, making health insurance and pensions more portable (employee-based rather than employer-based), and expecting the largest businesses to give more back to their communities.

In suburbia the American Dream is a huge driving force, a motivator for voters. Everyone dreams of being their own boss, and of their children's success in the world. The Democratic Party should be the promoter of this dream.

Political themes: Entrepreneurs produce economic growth and jobs that stay in America. Promote prevention, cure, and universal access as the means of reducing health insurance costs. Make government policy friendly to small business. We represent the American Dream.