Small business fills a big space in our lives. So, we’re happy to see it beginning to return.

Actually “small business” is a misnomer. It’s really not so small. There are more than 30 million small businesses in America, over 475,000 in Maryland alone. Here in Montgomery County more than 95% of all businesses have 50 or fewer employees. So “small” is really very big.  

But as the doors of the barber shop, the cleaners and the neighborhood restaurant begin to re-open will we remember what it was like when they were closed?

Will we support their freedom to do business when Democrats resume raising the costs of doing so? From the wages they would arbitrarily set for employees at the corner gas station to the alcoholic beverages they require restaurants to buy from a  government monopoly, Democrats would deny small business the chance to grow. Having just seen what life is like without small business, why would we want to go back down that path?

Recent events were extreme, but they showed us what can happen, whether it’s the sudden closing of the economy or protracted pressure on it. Sooner or later you get to much the same place.

Democrats, who control every elected office in Montgomery County, argue that they are acting out of the best of intentions for small business which, if so, might be likened to killing with kindness. For at the end of the day there will be more empty storefronts and fewer jobs. Free enterprise needs freedom to prosper. Perhaps it’s time to elect Republicans who understand that.