Meltdown on Main Street: Why Small Business Is Leading the Revolution Against Big Government

This smoothly written book by the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce outlines the case against big government that helped put Republicans in control of Congress in 1994. Comparing the surge of antigovernment sentiment to a political earthquake, Lesher argues that the mobilization of small businesses struggling to survive was the driving force in the shift to the right. Describing laws and regulations aimed at consumer and worker safety, environmental protection and amelioration of poverty as excessive, Lesher says they burden and overtax entrepreneurs and foster a culture of dependency and lawlessness among intended beneficiaries. Lesher concludes by calling for representatives of small businesses to help streamline government programs. Citing the collapse of the U.S.S.R., he believes that the free market has proven its supremacy. Would that he had paid more attention to America's increasing gap between rich and poor. (May)