There is one key element of Dailykos that I see missing from our pages and groups here. I know there are many small business owners who participate in discussions but until now there has not been a way for all of us to collectively pool our thoughts and abilities together. Large corporations have the Chamber of Commerce and other groups that spend large money in elections, but small businesses on the left have little to no recourse for change.
It is with this hope that this group can become a strength by numbers contention to those on the right. There are far more small businesses than there are corporations, and because of this small business should be louder and more deafening in comparison.
I invite any and all small or even large business owners with a liberal philosophy to join and introduce them selves to this group (Small Business Administration of Kossackistan) and together perhaps we can discuss business models, what we are doing for our communities/workers, and establish some political goals to work together and achieve.
I will kick this off by introducing myself.
Online I go by the Pseudonym of PR. In real life however I, along with my wife own a small jewelry business (mostly body jewelry, we are very similar to Hot Topic or Spencers, but with far more selection). We have been in existance for over a decade. We pride ourselves in bringing a product to market at a greatly discounted price compared to our competitors. We buy in extreme bulk, and we pass that savings onto our customers. It would be easy to charge what others charge and keep the profits, but our philosophy has always been to give our customers the quality of our competitors, at the lowest profitable prices. Beleive it or not, on the very same goods, we beat Wal-Mart on price. We just choose to make less of a profit.
It is for this reason, as much as we would love to, we run everything ourselves and have not hired extra help. Each election cycle we do make it a point to donate a portion of our products to the local Democratic Party, but we would like to do something more, beyond contribution.
I have never had a problem with large corporations donating money and influencing politics. What I have had a problem with is a lack of competition on the other side, and as the free market would dictate, competition is good. Help this group grow, and for the time being, please, introduce yourselves and tell us your story.
12:12 PM PT: If you are a small business owner (or even if you are not) please, feel free to write a diary on this group. Any and all ideas for this group, or small businesses in general to counter the Chamber of Commerce and corporate monies are welcome!
7:57 PM PT: In order to keep in touch and work on these ideas, and to actually make something of this, please join the group "Small Business Association of Kossackistan".
7:58 PM PT: http://www.dailykos.com/...