Speak Your Mind This Labor Day

As Labor Day approaches, marking the unofficial end of summer, many Americans are grabbing their last chances at a variety of activities: neighborhood cookouts, family outings, lounging by a pool or taking a last few days of vacation.

Many of you have also been grabbing the last chance to do one other important thing: lobby your lawmakers.

A number of great meetings have been held around the country with key players in the healthcare debate such as Sens. Max Baucus (Mont.) and Susan Collins (Maine) as well as Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.) and Evan Bayh (Ind.)

You've also sat down with lawmakers such as U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson (Utah), Ron Kind (Wisc.), Harry Mitchell (Ariz.), Frank Kratovil (Md.) and Melissa Bean (Ill.).

As you’ve no doubt noticed, special-interest groups have grabbed many headlines by spending huge sums of money on ads aimed at influencing legislators. But that’s no substitute for hearing directly from you. For lawmakers, talking to real people about their everyday concerns is a much more effective way to gauge what’s on their constituents’ minds than any slickly produced ad campaign.

For the next few days, representatives and senators will be out and about in cities and towns around the country. They’ll be shaking hands, visiting coffee shops and community centers. You’ll see them marching in Labor Day weekend parades, waving and carrying flags, all to tell you how much they care about you, your community and our country.

So if you haven’t already done so, take advantage of the opportunity to tell them exactly what’s on your mind and what’s important to you and your business. Let them know what you expect of them when they go back to the Capitol.

A funny thing sometimes happens to our representatives when they get inside the Washington Beltway bubble. They can too easily get caught up in petty politics, insider bickering and frantic races to one fundraiser after another as they think about their next campaign. The kindly, community-oriented Dr. Jekyll can become a self-centered Mr. Hyde, forgetting who he is, who he represents, and who, in the end, he works for—you.

They need to be reminded of that fact whenever possible, with the strongest possible messages. As a small business owner, you have a particularly powerful message to deliver. You’re a leader in your community. You create jobs, pay wages and taxes to all levels of government. You are the largest single sector of our economy, both local and national.

And right now, many small business owners are struggling. If you’re one of them, let your legislator know. Be sure they hear that you can’t afford to be hit with an expensive new mandate to provide health insurance. Help them to understand that the proposed energy bill, with its risky new cap-and-trade program, will mean much higher costs for your business, stifling growth and investment. Let them know that your taxes need to be kept low so that you can grow your business. Talk to them about whatever is threatening the well-being of your business.

Now is your chance to speak up. Don’t let it pass you by. Otherwise, they’re liable to forget that you’re the boss.