I have a soft spot for small businesses. They’re usually run by regular people who decided to say one day, “I want to be my own boss” and took huge risks in order to make that dream happen. That’s very special and admirable to me, because I one day also hope to own my own business. I am a believer that small businesses are both culturally and economically invaluable to communities. They provide jobs, which lead to better more prosperous futures for the citizens of the communities and they give the communities their own unique identity. Where I live on the South Coast of Massachusetts, Portuguese small businesses provide neighborhoods with their own uniqueness and allow many Portuguese immigrants to feel a little bit closer to “home”, even though “home” may be a few thousand miles away. If you look at other parts of the country sometimes a town may depend on the local family owned grocery store, which provides jobs and food to the community; that may be the only grocery store within an hour or two drive.

While small businesses and businesses in general provide many goods, services and cultural benefits to communities, government forces many taxes and regulations on them, on top of the expenses they already have which come with the turf of owning a business. Typically payroll is the biggest expense a business incurs. Followed by property taxes, payroll taxes, sales taxes and even telling them if they can or cannot fix their own windows,(just one of the many regulations local and not local businesses have to abide to) even though cold drafts come through! . Why should the government profit off of employers and employees who may have spent long nights making sure their communities would have bread in the morning; in the case of bakeries, or the construction company who kept the communities buildings maintained? Do we not have the right to work and to own property without government extorting the fruits of our labor? Our communities can exist without government but our government cannot exist without our communities. It is basic economics to understand if an employer is allowed to grow his business, he will need to hire more employees, as his business grows he will hire more employees and perhaps some of his employees will gain the knowledge and wealth to begin their own business. This can only enrich the community.

Why should you care about the “mom-and-pop” corner store that had to close down due to business costs, taxes and regulations? Our founding father’s designed our constitution to allow the people to have the power and not a centralized government. This is important because it allowed the United States to become the “land of opportunity”. The idea is if you work hard and make the right decisions you, yourself could be the owner of your own “mom-and-pop” shop. The point is, regardless if you would ever like to own your own businesses, through limited government, you would have the opportunity to own your own business and achieve the dream of many around the world, which is to be their “own boss”. This all sounds lovely, until Uncle Sam decides he wants his own piece of your cake. Without even asking, how rude! Normally, the average person would call that theft, but the government calls it taxation.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness. That’s what it’s all about and that’s what this great country was founded upon. Whether you’re a full anarchist, small-government conservative or just an average Joe trying to get by, what I would like you to take from this quick write-up is: you are important, you are valuable, you do not need the government; our government needs you. I believe most humans are generally good. We do not need redistribution of wealth to feed and house the poor. What we need is for government to stay out of our lives and wallets and you will see our communities and charities flourish! Liberty is beautiful, let’s not take it for granted. Empower individuals, not government.