For months I've been saying on hundreds of TV and radio shows that the major advantage that I bring
as a Vice Presidential candidate is my background as a small businessman, home-school dad, and citizen politician. My greatest asset is the common sense of a common American citizen.
I'm proud to say I´m NOT your typical politician. I've never served in office; never worked in Washington D.C.; never collected a check from any government (state or federal); nor done business of any kind with government. What I have done my entire adult life is start businesses and create jobs by risking my own and my investors' money – not the government´s (that is, not YOUR money).
None of this year's major Presidential contenders- Barack Obama (my college classmate), Hillary Clinton, or John McCain has ever created a business or a job without government money. What could they possibly know about healing or growing the American economy? The answer is simple – NOTHING. Unless, of course, you consider spending your hard-earned tax dollars on ´Pork Barrel´ projects as valuable experience for a politician.
Most importantly, I want to stress the “small� in my small business experience. In modern political history there has never been a small businessman on a Presidential ticket. Most of our past Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates have been cut from the same mold- either spoiled brat, “lucky sperm club� members born to wealthy, connected fathers; wealthy out-of-touch CEO's of Fortune 500 companies; or career politicians who have lived their entire lives off of taxpayer-funded paychecks.
Today small business is the economic engine of America. We live in a “Small Business Economy�, where the majority of America's jobs are created by small business. Small business owners, men and women willing to risk their own money and security, are the backbone of the American economy.
Isn't it time we listened to these heroes of the American workforce? Isn't it time we elected someone who wants to support small business owners? Isn't it time we elected someone who understands the unique challenges and problems of small businessmen and women, and knows how to empower them to create more jobs and more prosperity for this nation?
Now I'm going to let you in on a deep dark secret you won't hear from clueless out-of-touch career politicians or government bureaucrats: We are in a RECESSION. And I believe it's a deep one- possibly the worst since the Great Depression. Despite government assurances that it has not occured yet, I believe we've been in this recession for over a year. How do I know? Just ask any small business owner. It's that simple. They are the “canary in the coal mine.� Small business feels a recession first; and they feel it the deepest. We can no longer rely on what the Fed says. What do blue-blooded Ivy League bankers from wealthy families know about the real world? Nothing. Nor can we rely on career politicians or government bureaucrats- few of them know anything about what's really happening in the business world. Worse, they are disingenuous. Their job is to deceive us.
What used to be a two party system has now sadly become one big bloated “cover your rear� bureaucracy with incumbent politicians and their friends at the Fed lulling us to sleep to convince us to support the status quo; behave like good little voters; and never throw the bums out of office who are responsible for running our country (and economy) into the ground. To achieve that end and prevent anger and panic, government leaders and bureaucrats will do whatever they need to do, including “cook the books� to stay in power. Amazingly, if a small businessperson reported his or her accounting in a way that was as misleading and inaccurate as the government does, they'd be thrown in jail for 20 years (or longer). And what is so sad, is that most politicians know so little about economics and business, they do not even know the difference.
The bottom line is that I believe that our government has NOT been truthful to us. Government statistics report we are not in a recession. Any small business owner knows that can only be classified as misleading propaganda. Those same government statistics report that inflation is under control. Any consumer who has spent 5 minutes in a grocery store or gas station knows that too is misleading propaganda. I don't need government economists or Fed bankers to tell me where the economy stands. I only need to listen to my friends who own small businesses on Main Street USA.
My friends can tell you we are in the midst of a deep recession. My friends are the very heart of America's “economic engine.� My friends don't fly private planes. They don't run billion dollar companies. I've never met billionaires like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Donald Trump or Steve Wynn.
I don't hang out with jet-setters. My friends own small businesses- restaurants, dry cleaners, real estate firms, mortgage firms. My friends are stockbrokers, real estate appraisers, insurance brokers. My friends are the very pulse of American business. These people understand business. They ARE the American economy. And they are in deep distress. This economy can best be described as being in crisis. Yet politicians on both sides of the aisle either haven't a clue, or are purposely misleading us.
According to small business owners, things are much worse than the government is telling us. My friends are 35 to 55 years old, and they tell me this is the worst economic downturn of their entire lives. Yet the government claims we are not in recession? Tell that to millions of successful small businesspersons who are seeing dramatic drops in their income. Tell that to small business owners who have made $500,000 a year for a decade or longer, but now are losing their business or their home (or both). Many have given up their entire salary in an attempt to keep their businesses alive. Increasingly, even that extreme sacrifice has failed and they´ve been forced to close their doors, leaving their employees without a paycheck. Small business owners are getting slaughtered. It's that bad in the real world- a world protected politicians, government employees, economists, and Fed bankers obviously know nothing about.
I have first-hand knowledge of this economic tsunami. First, I've spoken to hundreds of small business owners. The lucky ones, who are still in business, are reporting revenues down 20% to 30% over the last year. That's revenues we're talking about- not profits. For many there are no longer any profits.
Secondly, I know how bad it is, because I'm one of them. That's the big advantage of having a small businessman as a Vice Presidential candidate. I'm living in the trenches and I won´t hesitate to provide a dose of honesty and reality to the political process. Unlike politicians, economists, Federal Reserve bankers, out-of-touch CEO's, or the media, I actually understand first-hand what's happening on Main Street. And, I know when the politicians and government bureaucrats are feeding us a pack of lies.
Why would the government mislead us? Because keeping you in the dark is the only way to ensure that voters will march in lockstep like nice little sheep to the voting booth and once again vote for the same
Republican and Democratic career politicians who created this mess. The same politicians and bureaucrats who live off taxpayer checks. This Washington D.C. ruling class only cares about one thing- getting re-elected.
To sum it up, “The books are cooked!� Our government is misleading us. Take it from a small businessman- we are currently in recession; we have been in recession for a year or longer; and it's not getting better. The very people who created this mess are now trying to convince you that more government is the answer. Government grows bigger every day and our economic future gets worse and worse. Do you think maybe there is a connection there?
More government is not the answer. More of the same government is certainly not the answer. Electing
a politician from either of the two major parties is keeping the same government. Those are the people that got us in this mess in the first place. While small business is fighting for survival and cutting jobs, government is expanding, hiring more bureaucrats, and spending like a drunken sailor (no offense meant to drunken sailors).
The answer is less government, dramatically reduced spending, fewer government bureaucrats, and reduced bureaucracy. The answer is letting Americans keep more of their own money, and make their own decisions about how to spend it. The answer is to take the power away from the government and give the power back to the people- exactly as our Founding Fathers intended. What is it that these two-party establishment politicians don´t understand about the simple idea that: When times are bad, government must cut jobs and spending just like the rest of us!
How's that for honesty from a politician? All the more reason why we need to elect politicians who live in the real world; who run small businesses; who create jobs; who understand what is happening on Main Street, instead of only focusing on Wall Street. If given a choice, I'll listen to news-stand owners, taxi cab drivers, and restauranteurs over Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers any day of the week.
My role as Vice President in a Barr/Root administration will be a unique one. I'll spend every waking hour working with small business owners; solving the unique issues and challenges unique to small businessmen and women; eliminating rules and regulations that impede small business growth; identifying wasteful government programs and slashing spending so taxes can be reduced, thereby allowing ALL Americans who want to achieve the American Dream to keep more of their own money, so they can open their own small business and achieve economic freedom. I will be the first “SMALL BUSINESS VICE PRESIDENT.� That is the true definition of power to the people. That is the advantage of voting for a third party, anti-establishment, anti-status quo Presidential ticket of Barr/Root.
Mr. Root is a successful small businessman, entrepreneur, author, business speaker and commentator. He is currently the Vice Presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party on the Presidential ticket of Barr/Root.
For more on Wayne Root's views and commentaries go to:
www.ROOTforAmerica.com or www.BobBarr2008.com
