My sense is that this is largely an ideological and legitimating assertion made by Rep[ugs in direct contrast to the policies they have actually implemented... it certainly doesn't seem to me that policy programs that have served the interests of huge financial interests; massive energy, extractive, agrichemical and food processing industries; gargantuan retailers, and military-industrial suppliers is oriented in any meaningful way towards small business owners. If the assertion is made, by Repugs, that they have also set the stage for all sorts of start-ups then I think one has to counter that the dream of almost all start-ups is to turn into or be snarfled up by HP, MS, Syngenta, etc...
I don't think the small businesses Repug policies actually support are those run by Korean green grocers, mom and pop delis, local jewelers, shoe repair shops, independent auto repair facilities, community-based landscaping companies, local pharmacies, or CSA-oriented "more than organic" or "Field of Dreams"-like farms... which is what I think most people envision when "small business" is appealed to.
On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 8:36 AM, brad bauerly <bbauerly at gmail.com> wrote:
> The small business owner is a key political base of the Reps yet Doug
> claims
> that small business is not that important for the economy (if I remember
> correctly). Wouldn't this make the Reps a rather ineffectual capitalist
> ruling party? Or to look at it from another angle, why do the small
> business owners have greater clout in US politics then their economic power
> alone would designate?
>
> Brad
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
-- ********************************************************* Alan P. Rudy Dept. Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work Central Michigan University 124 Anspach Hall Mt Pleasant, MI 48858 517-881-6319