In this interview, Dennis Prager welcomes Elaine Parker, Chief Communications Officer of the Job Creators Network, to discuss the organization’s new “Bring Small Businesses Back” campaign. Parker criticizes the Biden administration’s policies—such as the rollback of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, minimum‑wage mandates, and pandemic‑related regulations—as a “declaration of war on small business.” She contrasts Florida’s aggressive reopening, including a relatively normal Walt Disney World experience, with California’s stricter restrictions, framing the difference as a political choice. Parker outlines the campaign’s strategy: mobilizing small‑business owners nationwide, launching a fall bus tour, and urging listeners to sign up at joinjcn.com to amplify their voices in Washington. The conversation also touches on how COVID‑19 lockdowns devastated small retailers while large chains like Target and Amazon thrived, and how programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program helped but were later undermined by extended unemployment benefits. Throughout, Prager reinforces the narrative that small businesses are being unfairly targeted and calls for audience support of the Job Creators Network.
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I am in love with the people fighting for this country. One of my favorite, I would say up there in the top 3 or 4, is Job Creators Network. And they have a new project and you could just join them. Elaine Parker, whom I've talked to a number of times, she's the Chief Communications Officer. Where are you, in Florida?
I'm in Orlando, Dennis Prager.
Yeah, that counts as Florida. By the way, do you know how woke Disney World has become?
I do, I do. I see it all the time.
Like, are the people of Orlando aware? And if they are, do they have any reactions to it?
You know, I think that people are so happy that Governor DeSantis has been aggressive in opening this state, and we have been back at Walt Disney World for quite a while, although under temperature checks and masks, and some of that's going away. When you compare that to the governor in California, Disneyland is not doing so well. So I guess our bar is a little lower, Dennis.
Yeah, no, I understand that exactly. You know, every exhibit is either sexist or misogynist or homophobic or male-dominated, or it's like, it's a suppression of the joy of Disney characters that is taking place. I read this thing to my audience. Anyway, you guys are doing great, truly great work. So what is the latest thing? I have asked people to go to joinjcn.com, joinjobcreatorsnetwork.com. What is it you want them to do, or what is it you're doing that you want them to support?
Well, Dennis, we've launched a campaign called the Bring Small Businesses Back campaign, and that's because of the Biden administration through the policies that it's either already enacted or threatening to enact are a declaration of war on small business, from rising— that taking the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act away to rolling back pieces of that that that directly impact small businesses to regulations like minimum wage and mandates. All of these things are squarely directed at our small businesses. What we're doing is harnessing that voice of small businesses and we're getting out there and we're talking to small businesses across the country. We're even launching a bus tour in the fall. We'll be all over the country. We want small business owners to sign up and join us in the fight. Look for opportunities if we're coming to a city near them and come out and join us, um, and let their voices be heard. Because I will tell you, I've been doing this now for, um, 8 years with the Job Creators Network. And when small business owners get together and their voices come together, those politicians in Washington, they listen.
How badly has the lockdown hurt small business?
I mean, if you were a big box store, a Target, an Amazon, a Walmart, and you did great record earnings during the pandemic.
That's right.
If you were a small business owner, you were being told by your government that you could not open your business that you owned, that you employed people with. And then you were told once you could open, Oh, but you have to follow these rules or those rules, or you have to have this seating or that seating, and you can only have this many people in the stores. And like I said, I'm in Florida, so we've been on the cutting edge of moving forward quickly and getting the state open in a safe way. But other states have really suffered, and small businesses have really taken the brunt of it. And thank God for programs like the Paycheck Protection Program that helped. But now we've got government hindrance in the form of unemployment checks.
That's right, exactly.
That are creating obstacles to getting people back to work.
Right. There are restaurants, well, stores that were 24/7 that can't find help late at night, and they're no longer 24/7. What was the excuse for keeping Walmart open and, uh, Joey's, uh, Box Store, not— go to joinjcn.com. Okay, this is a great example of fighting for good stuff.
