In a nation built by entrepreneurs and driven by free enterprise, small businesses should have the freedom to hire, innovate, grow, and strengthen their local economies and communities.
We’re calling on elected officials to foster their freedom to exist and thrive by upholding these basic rights for founders, entrepreneurs, and small business owners:
The right to a competitive and available workforce.
Fueled by the energy and talent of workers, small businesses respond to the marketplace, meet customer needs, solve fast-changing problems, and foster dynamic and flexible workplaces. The government should advance policies that strengthen the workforce and help address the labor shortage, such as through legal immigration reform.
The right to run a business free from government interference.
Small businesses are by necessity nimble, adaptive, and innovative. Heavy-handed regulations that put more business decisions under the control of the government undermines business owners’ freedom and flexibility to run and grow their companies and serve their customers.
The right to operate without fear of lawsuit abuse.
For a small business, one frivolous lawsuit can mean bankruptcy. Elected leaders must commit to clamping down on profit-based litigation and extortionary practices through commonsense legal reform.
The right to be rewarded for their hard work.
The promise of a profit rewards entrepreneurs’ hard work and makes it possible to keep a business going. The government should not dictate how small businesses invest, direct, or share their hard-earned rewards or take a growing cut to fuel government spending.
The right to take a risk.
Entrepreneurs, small business owners, and founders are among the most courageous in our economy—many put everything on the line in pursuit of an idea or a dream. Policies, rules and regulations that undermine competition and erode our free enterprise system threaten the risk-reward proposition that drives people to start, invent, solve, grow, and strengthen society.
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