No. 41: Who Gets to Speak for Small Businesses?

I’ve been a small business owner for 20 years. I run a business I started myself. I didn’t inherit it, my dad didn’t start it or build it or pay for it. It was just hard work, risk, and community support just like so many other entrepreneurs who start with a dream and a vision and a desire for independence. That’s not to say that I haven’t had advantages—it’s just to say that I know what it means to run something that I created. And that’s worlds apart from politicians I work with and executives I know who inherited businesses but still try to speak for small business owners like me. When my colleagues in the Nebraska Legislature claim that things like paid family leave or healthcare would “hurt small businesses,” I wonder who they’re speaking to, exactly. Because as someone who actually owns a small business in the true sense of the term, I can tell you these are the very policies that would help businesses like mine thrive.

Being a business owner is exactly why I support universal healthcare, public childcare options, and paid leave. If we had a universal system, employees wouldn’t have to choose between working for a small, locally-owned business and having health coverage or benefits. When lawmakers make the claim that these benefits would hurt businesses, they aren’t talking about people like me. They’re talking about corporate executives, franchise owners, and industry lobbyists who are more interested in protecting monopolies than actually supporting workers. They use the term “small business” as a shield—hoping people won’t notice that their policies benefit big business at the expense of working families in Nebraska and the United States.

Right now, big corporations get bulk rates and discounts on healthcare and benefits and tax incentives that small businesses don’t have access to. That’s not a free market—it’s a rigged game where big corporations keep all the advantages and small businesses are forced to fight for scraps. And yet, whenever we try to level the playing field—whenever we talk about universal healthcare, paid leave, or fair wages—we hear the same bad faith argument: “This will hurt small businesses.” No. What’s hurting small businesses is an economic system designed to keep wealth concentrated at the top while workers and small businesses alike get squeezed.

This reminds me of something I see in politics all the time: people who think they have more in common with billionaires than with the working class. The reality is that most of us—small business owners, workers, freelancers—have more in common with each other than with the corporations running the economy.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that small businesses and workers are on opposing sides. We’re not. We’re facing the same struggles—soaring healthcare costs, lack of paid leave, rising commercial and residential rents, and corporate consolidation.

Meanwhile, big corporations and their political allies keep selling this idea that popular public policies like universal healthcare would harm businesses when, in reality, they just don’t want to pay their fair share. They’d rather keep the system as it is—where small businesses have to fend for themselves while corporate America reaps the rewards.

Healthcare costs are crushing entrepreneurs. Paid leave keeps people in the workforce. Public options give workers real choices. These aren’t burdens on small businesses—they’re what will actually let us compete, grow, and thrive. If small businesses had access to affordable healthcare and real economic support, we’d see more entrepreneurship, stronger local economies, and better wages. How many people dream of starting a business but can’t because they’d lose their health coverage? How many businesses never get started because the founder can’t afford to lose their benefits? Right now, the system locks people into jobs they don’t want because employer-provided health insurance is their only option. This kills innovation.

Big business doesn’t need protection. Small businesses and workers do. So the next time someone claims to be “standing up for small businesses” while opposing universal healthcare, paid leave, or wage protections, ask yourself who they’re actually standing up for. Because chances are, it’s not people like me and you.

What else?

• My final biennium in the Nebraska Legislature has begun! Here is a list of bills I’ve introduced this year.

• Daily emails I get from da share z0ne are the best part of my day. Extremely worth it.

• Yesterday I filed a legislative resolution recognizing March 4, 2025, as Celebrate Theatre in Our Schools Day in Nebraska. High school drama students from all over the state came to visit my office all day (and meet my dog, Cricket).

• Is it daylight saving time yet

• Got away with Bobby last weekend for a quick trip to Tulum. Felt very White Lotus

• Saw Sextile and Molchat Doma last week with Ash and Bobby. Meant to go see Get Up Kids but they had to cancel because their bus broke down! The opener, Anniversary, did play a spontaneous show at another venue though so we did go to that.

Thanks for reading. I am first and foremost a shopgirl. The best way to support me/my family/my staff, help me pay my rent, and validate the work that fulfills me is by supporting my businesses Five Nine and Ceremony. I’ve been a small business owner here in my neighborhood for 20 years and I’m so grateful to get to do this. It’s really a dream come true every day. Take care.