Demos' Public Works Senior Program Director, Michael Lipsky and Demos Fellow Nicole Kazee argue that small business interests have been hijacked by powerful interest groups that do not full represent the views or interests of small-business owners. So then, who speaks for small business?
How, then, has NFIB become the voice of American small business? And does it really represent the views and best interests of small-business owners? As the 1994 health care story indicates, these are consequential questions for American democracy. "Small business" occupies a special place in the country's political imagination, and, imagination aside, NFIB has significant impact on public policy. If NFIB does not really represent the full spectrum of small business interests, perhaps other organizations are needed.
