I remember the 1992 presidential election quite well. At the time, I was selling advertising in Enterprise, Alabama. President George H. W. Bush was seeking reelection against Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, and there was plenty of conversation among the business owners I visited about what might happen if Clinton won.
When the election results came in, some of those business owners were genuinely concerned. Would taxes increase? Would new regulations make doing business more difficult? What would happen to the economy? Those were legitimate questions, especially for people whose livelihoods depended on making payroll, attracting customers and keeping their businesses profitable.
Sound familiar?
Last week’s midterm elections brought significant changes to the political landscape in Washington. Democrats won control of both the House and Senate, setting the stage for divided government during the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term. Depending on your political perspective, those results may have been welcome news or a reason for concern. But I would encourage business owners to view the situation through a slightly different lens.
We’ve been here before, and history offers some perspective.
When Clinton took office in 1993, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Two years later, following the Republican victories in the 1994 midterms, the country found itself with a Democratic president and a Republican Congress. What followed was one of the strongest periods of economic expansion in modern American history. Businesses grew. Employment increased. Technology transformed entire industries. The federal government eventually recorded budget surpluses.
Was all of that because of divided government? Of course not. The economy is far too complex to attribute its success to a single political arrangement. But there is something worth considering about a government in which neither party controls everything. When power is divided, compromise becomes necessary to accomplish major legislative goals. Neither side can simply assume its priorities will become law without negotiating with the other.
That doesn’t mean divided government is always productive. We saw government shutdowns during the Clinton years, and political disagreements sometimes created significant uncertainty. Still, divided government can provide an important check on political extremes and encourage policies that attract broader support. For business owners, that possibility should provide some perspective as we look toward 2027.
Uncertainty is not the same thing as disaster.
There will undoubtedly be disagreements in Washington over taxes, spending, regulations and economic policy. Some of those decisions could have meaningful consequences for businesses here in Northwest Louisiana and across the country.
We should pay attention. We should stay informed. And we should make sound financial decisions based on the conditions we actually face. But we should not allow political uncertainty to become an excuse for standing still.
I’ve spent much of my professional life working with business owners, and one lesson has remained consistent: Successful businesses don’t wait for perfect conditions. They adapt. They look for opportunities when others see obstacles. They control what they can control. They invest carefully, maintain relationships with customers and continue looking for ways to grow.
Think about the businesses that survived and even prospered through changing presidential administrations, economic downturns, technological disruptions and a global pandemic. They didn’t succeed because Washington always made the right decisions. They succeeded because someone showed up every morning, made decisions, served customers and kept moving forward. That is where our attention belongs today.
If you’re considering an expansion, evaluate the opportunity on its merits. If you’re thinking about hiring, look at your workload, revenue and long-term needs. If you’re concerned about potential policy changes, build flexibility into your plans. Be prudent, but don’t become paralyzed. The next two years will bring political battles, headlines and plenty of predictions about what the future holds. Some predictions will prove accurate. Many will not. Meanwhile, people will still need homes, healthcare, transportation, professional services, restaurants and the countless other products and services our businesses provide. Our communities will continue to grow and change. Opportunities will continue to emerge.
Washington certainly influences the environment in which we operate, but it does not determine every outcome. I learned that lesson watching business owners respond to the election of 1992. More than three decades later, I believe it remains just as relevant.
Keep this in mind: We don’t have to know exactly what Washington will do next to know what we need to do next.
Run your business wisely. Prepare for change. Look for opportunity. And above all, keep moving forward.
David Specht is publisher of BIZ. Magazine.