Small business outrage, activism rises

Spontaneous Political Combustion
By Anthony K. Smith
Oregon NFIB,

Attribute it to the personal empowerment of email lists and social media, then add a strong push by legislative arrogance, and what happened in Salem during the waning weeks of the 2019 legislative session is another example of a phenomenon occurring with greater frequency.

Last month, on two separate occasions, hundreds of tractors, heavy haulers, and logging trucks circled the State Capitol in protest of House Bill 2020, a cap-and-trade measure that would have, among other things, raised fuel prices by more than 20 cents per gallon in the first year of the program alone. The convoy made their voices (and horns) heard in a very real way.

Now, couple this with what happened in Olympia, Washington, in January, when more than 1,400 cosmetologists and barbers descended on the Washington State Capitol in protest of legislative proposal that would have banned their industry practice of booth rentals by requiring them to buy unemployment and workers’ compensation insurance.

Here’s what both have in common: They weren’t formally organized.

They were the result of loggers, truckers, farmers, barbers, and cosmetologists calling each other, emailing each other, posting on social media, with someone suggesting a time and place to act. The protests were not organized by any trade or cause group. They were the result of spontaneous political combustion.

Business association groups spend a lot of time and resources on organizing their members for legislative action. They use email blasts, action alerts, and social media posts to get the word out to members on specific issues but it’s no secret that sometimes it’s like pulling teeth to get association members motivated to act.

There’s a common reason for that, if you’re an association whose members are involved in business, those members are very busy. They’re working – and often can’t spare a minute for anything else, which underscores the truly impressive significance of what happened this year Salem and Olympia.

Seeing barbers and cosmetologists packing every hearing room in Olympia, the author of the bill affecting their livelihoods decided to pull it. The loggers, truckers, and farmers that showed up with their big rigs in Salem last month achieved a similar win with the defeat of HB 2020. When their livelihoods were on the line, there was no choice but to show up – and show up in a big way.

The lesson every lawmaker in Oregon, Washington, and everywhere else should learn is that people will push back against legislative recalcitrance when they’re not being heard. Telling them to wait for the next election simply doesn’t cut it in our hyper-communicative age.

Even though the speed in which we can reach each other has gone from a walk to a warp, there is one thing that hasn’t and never will change when it comes to the art of governance: The importance of accommodation and compromise. This art is what has been abandoned in Salem lately by the ruling elites.

There’s nothing wrong with having a set of political beliefs you feel strongly about and working to elect those who share your views to put them into policy. But no policy has ever been established that suits everyone. There will always be people here and there who don’t easily fit the policy and can often be harmed by it.

And when communication and compromise break down, you can expect a swift and overwhelming response from free people – because grassroots activism isn’t dead. It’s alive and well, even here in the Northwest. This movement, made up working people in industries with deep roots in Oregon, was completely organic. It could be the reciprocal force that resets the political pendulum. Let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of them.

Their win – defeating the cap-and-trade bill – wasn’t just a win for their jobs and Oregon’s rural economy. It was also a win for grassroots advocacy. It’s a great reminder that this is what happens (and can keep happening) when Oregonians set their apathy aside and pushback against the overreach of heavy-handed government.