Lately you can’t turn on the television without unfortunately seeing ongoing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, interwoven with a landslide of political ads. Also on many people’s minds as of late are the debates and dialogues about policing and social justice. In our educational system, everyone is hoping for students and faculty to return safely to school this fall. All of these issues and many more are critical in our never-ending efforts to move forward individually and as a society, and to make progress both nationally and in our local communities.

Many of the debates and challenges that confront us collectively these days concern the role of government, known as the “public sector.” Continuously refining the size and the scope of governmental services and optimizing local, state and federal resources and programs is important work. Issues in the realm of government spending, elections, public officials and legislation, income redistribution, educational policies and practices, many health care programs, and the like are funded by taxes on our income and property in the “private sector.” It’s a valuable reminder to recognize that all of our governmental services like education, security, the judicial system, and everything else exist because we have a private sector that creates jobs and income and property that we collectively tax to fund our government.

What is the private sector? It’s basically the business community — the commerce and industry that drives the majority of our economy. Our economic system of capitalism is built on and is driven by the two core concepts of private property and incentives. Namely, people make investments to create and run businesses that can produce a return for themselves along with employment opportunities for others. Adam Smith’s notion of the “invisible hand” of the market is still valid: individual actions based on self-interest and personal motivation end up accruing for the collective good of us all. In the normal course of our modern life, most of the news coverage we see concerns the public sector, since by definition (and legally) much of what happens in government is readily accessible to the public. Most private sector companies limit and carefully manage the information they share, so consequently it’s de facto more private in nature.

Here in Maine, almost all of our businesses are small enough that they are not vast corporate abstractions; they are run by real Maine people, you and your family members and neighbors who work hard every day to make products, provide services, solve problems, satisfy customers, and keep our economy moving forward. It’s easy to take that daily effort for granted, but we shouldn’t — it’s the backbone of our local cities and our state. In our role here at the Biddeford & Saco Chamber of Commerce & Industry, it’s not surprising that we are passionate proponents for a vibrant and dynamic private sector, but we truly believe that it is crucial for our regional success that we all support our local businesses wherever and whenever we can.

This is not to say that our private sector shouldn’t be subject to policy discussion or regulation, the rights and responsibilities of businesses should be a topic of debate and ongoing inquiry, just as with citizens. This is not an argument for unfettered and unregulated capitalism. It’s just beneficial for us to remember what drives our economy and our forward progress, and to try to choose policies and approaches that maximize entrepreneurialism and inspire innovation — that is where our future job growth will come from, and our collective standard of living only improves when we generate sustainable economic growth. Of course we all want smart growth — progress that does not result in increased pollution, congestion, inequality, or other negative impacts. We are fortunate in Biddeford and Saco that local government leaders work tirelessly to partner with the private sector to balance commercial and residential growth with quality of life in our area. Even during this pandemic, our regional progress is continuing on so many fronts.

The public sector and the private sector are not independent. Economic growth in the private sector creates more income and wealth, which in turn allows us to afford and support more governmental services. At the local and state level, government spending cannot exceed receipts — i.e. taxes — so it’s beneficial to support policies that allow the local business community to grow, and that yield increased jobs and earnings potential for employers and employees. Exception: the federal government seems capable of spending trillions more than they bring in somehow, for now anyway.

It’s easy to focus on issues that divide us; many media business models exacerbate that feeling of divisiveness between us. But it’s critical to realize too that there are so many things that unite us: our embrace of freedom and individual liberty; our need for everyone to have fair access to educational opportunities and affordable health care; our hope that everyone can find work that is meaningful, productive and that allows for a decent standard of living; and our desire for safe, tolerant and supportive communities; and so much more. The public sector and the private sector are not trade-offs in a zero-sum game, they combine together to equal “all of us” — and like everything else, we do better working together.

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