23 October 2022 - The business community should support the Democratic Party
The Business Community Should Support the Democratic Party
Businesses should support the Democratic Party, not the Republican party, based on my experience as a business owner for 40+ years in computers / IT, medicine, law and medical publishing.
First, successful businesses need stability to plan for the future. In general, democracy breeds stability and enacting policies that strengthen democratic values is good for business. However, the Republican Party promotes instability through their widespread support for election deniers (https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/republicans-trump-election-fraud/, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/06/elections-deniers-midterm-elections-2022/). If a Republican election official proclaims a candidate the victor who did not get the most votes, we can predict that widespread violence and societal mayhem are more likely to occur.
The Republican Party also promotes instability by threatening to default on the national debt (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/18/mccarthy-gop-medicare-social-security/), which could trigger a recession (https://www.thebalancemoney.com/u-s-debt-default-3306295#:~:text=In%20modern%20history%2C%20the%20U.S.,financial%20markets%20and%20the%20economy, https://www.forbes.com/sites/rhettbuttle/2021/10/04/defaulting-on-the-national-debt-ceiling-would-be-catastrophic-for-small-businesses/?sh=129c344e3bf2). In addition, the climate crisis is another source of profound instability which is being addressed only by the Democratic Party; the Republic Party calls it a hoax.
Second, successful businesses need educated and healthy employees. This means the business community should support strong public K-12 schools, public colleges and universities, public health programs and medical programs such as the Affordable Care Act. These programs are promoted almost exclusively by the Democratic Party and strongly opposed by the Republican Party.
Third, successful businesses rely on physical infrastructure, including roads, sewers, water systems, transportation systems, utilities and Internet. Remarkable, only 13 House Republicans voted in support of President Biden's infrastructure bill that funds roads, bridges, mass transit, rail, airports, ports, waterways, broadband infrastructure, the electric grid, water systems and a network of plug-in electric vehicle chargers
(https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/05/politics/house-votes-infrastructure-build-back-better), all of which are good for business.
Fourth, businesses are more successful with a diverse workforce, which includes women, minorities, LGTBQ people and non-Christians (https://www.forbes.com/sites/biancamillercole/2020/09/15/8-reasons-why-diversity-and-inclusion-are-essential-to-business-success/?sh=53136e4c1824). This means business needs to encourage policies which support people other than white male heterosexual Christians. In general, Democrats support these policies and Republicans do not.
Fifth, most businesses need a strong economy to prosper, which historically means that government should support programs that benefit the middle and lower class, such as the American Rescue Plan (https://equitablegrowth.org/the-american-rescue-plan-helped-u-s-families-amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-provides-a-roadmap-for-policymakers-today/). These "trickle up" policies appear to be more important for economic growth than tax cuts for the wealthy and super wealthy (https://academic.oup.com/ser/article/20/2/539/6500315), which cause severe income inequality and massive deficits.
Sixth, in this era of low unemployment rates and difficulties in finding employees to hire, we need to support reasonable immigration policies to bring in more immigrants to work for us. Democrats support these policies, Republicans do not.
Traditionally, business supports the Republican Party because it is obsessed with reducing taxes for the wealthy, which benefit the business bottom line in the short term and satisfies the greed of many business executives. Although it is rational to want to minimize expenses, including taxes, many business executives acknowledge that to survive and prosper long term, it is more important for the country and states to have the policies described above, which require adequate business taxes. This is more likely when the Democratic Party is in power.
Currently, with a Democratic led government, business is so good, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, that businesses cannot sell fast enough and are limited only by labor and suppliers. If Republicans assume power, we can expect a prolonged recession as they damage the above fundamentals for a sound business climate.
@NatPpolitics