|
By Paul M. Weyrich
March 13, 2006
An old conservative characteristic the
next conservatism should revive is a suspicion of bigness.
Many conservatives remain suspicious of big government, as
well they should. But we should favor small scale in many
other things as well. Small scale is critical to local life,
to the ability of local people to control what happens where
they live. In general, small, local schools teach better than
big, regional schools; small towns work better than big cities;
and small business provides communities a better economic
base than does big business. Big businesses care little, if
at all, what effects their actions have locally. Small businesses
do care, because their owners and managers live in the local
community. If they injure that community, they hurt themselves
as well.
Small businesses are also an important
part of something America does relatively well - namely, creating
economic opportunity and new jobs. A major reason we do that
better than much of the rest of the world, including Europe,
is that small businesses and especially new start-ups face
fewer government obstacles. In much of the world someone who
wants to start a new business faces a huge, hostile government
bureaucracy. It can take him months or years (and often bribes)
to get the many permissions he needs.
The next conservatism should work to build
on this American success. The lesson is not that we should
rest happy in our superiority to other places but rather that
we can benefit even more if we make establishing a new business
even easier.
At present, while starting a new business
is less difficult than in most other places, it can still
be daunting. Immediately, the person who wants to set up shop
faces an array of federal, state and local rules and regulations.
He is deluged with pieces of government paper, many of which
begin, "Under penalty of law." The many forms he
must fill out are obscure and confusing. If he makes an honest
mistake he may be legally liable.
If we really want to promote small businesses,
the next conservatism should work to reduce this burden. Some
of the rules and regulations should simply be abolished. Others,
such as public health requirements for new restaurants, are
clearly necessary. But where government imposes a requirement,
it could and should also offer the help people need to meet
that requirement, especially help in dealing with government
paperwork.
I propose the next conservatism incorporate
something along these lines. Whenever government lays a reporting
or other paperwork requirement on small business it also offers
an office the business can turn to, without charge, to obtain
help in meeting the requirement. The office offers both advice
on meeting the substance of the requirement and help in filling
out the paperwork. In effect, this office would be a type
of ombudsman, a government employee who helps ordinary people
to deal with other government offices.
Here is an example. Let us say someone
is good at repairing small appliances. He starts to set up
a small business to do that. Immediately, he faces multiple
government requirements with a large amount of paperwork and
complex forms. Now, he is very good at repairing appliances,
but knows nothing about legal forms. Most of them seem incomprehensible
to him.
Instead of having to hire a lawyer with
money he probably doesn't have, he can turn to his local small
business ombudsman. The ombudsman not only walks him through
what the requirements mean, he sits down with him and helps
him fill out all the forms. If there is a mistake, the error
is first drawn to the attention of the ombudsman rather than
facing the new business with legal action. The ombudsman's
job is to get the business up and going by running interference
for the business owner, and he has the legal authority to
do that.
This is one way the next conservatism could
be especially helpful to inner-city residents, minorities
and immigrants. Many of these people have skills that could
be the basis of a small business. But they have no idea how
to deal with government, and they are often afraid of the
government. Right in their neighborhood would be a small business
ombudsman's office they could go to for all the help and assurance
they would need. The burden imposed by government would fall
at least partly on government, instead of serving as a crippling
tax on enterprise.
By including such a program, the next conservatism
would build incrementally on something America already does
comparatively well. That in itself is conservative. Conservatives
rightly favor incremental progress over sweeping programs.
We would also put some substance behind our belief in thinking
locally and acting locally. The only losers would be the lawyers,
and if more of them get pushed into an honest line of work,
so much the better.
Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and
CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.
| 
