The entire economic infrastructure of the United States is dominated by just a handful of corporations threatening the well being of small businesses, working people, and communities.
In The Forge, antimonopoly pioneer Stacy Mitchell argues that this is an unprecedented moment in American history to “organize a broad popular front capable of generating enough political will in Washington for policymakers to act. Only by using the tools and authority of the federal government can we directly target and dismantle the outsized power of these corporations. To get there, organizers will need to align a diverse range of people who’ve been harmed by corporate concentration. One especially promising set of allies in this project are small business owners and groups.”
After all, small businesses are vital to our economic resilience. “Small businesses generate broad economic benefits: they play a pivotal role in innovation, and their presence lifts wages by creating more competition for labor. Local businesses foster stronger social networks and more cohesive neighborhoods.”
Centering small business in this political moment requires a multipronged approach: investing in strategic organizing, partnering with small business organizations, building political education, developing campaigns, and urging policymakers to incorporate small businesses into their messaging and agenda.
Mitchell assures that these strategies will evoke a strong response. “Small business has a special potency in American political discourse. It evokes our aspirations for liberty, our desire to direct our own affairs, subject to no king. This is a powerful idea. We should conjure it often in the fight to overthrow mega-corporations, which, after all, are every bit as tyrannical as kings.”
Read the full article here. And check out the rest of the newest The Forge here to read our partners’ ideas for how to successfully organize against megacorporations in this moment.
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