Those who own a small bar know a routine that almost no one outside understands. It's the weight of turning the key to the lock in the cold of the night, the stress of the price of goods rising from the supplier, the juggling act to meet payroll, and the physical exhaustion of standing for hours. For the small business owner, the bar is not an abstract investment on the stock market: it is the family's livelihood, guaranteed by their own sweat.
However, in the midst of the daily hustle, there is a casual conversation about politics that tries to sell a dangerous illusion: that, just because you have opened a CNPJ, you are now part of an elite group of entrepreneurs, and therefore, you should vote for candidates who defend the agenda of the extreme right, such as Flávio Bolsonaro.
It is not because you have different obligations than a worker that you stop having a grueling routine and being economically vulnerable. Let's put the reality on paper and do the important calculations? If you need to carry boxes, clean the counter, argue over the price of ice, and, above all, if you cannot take a month of vacation without your business risking going bankrupt, you are not the "great entrepreneur" that this wing of politics protects. You are a self-employed worker. And voting, believing that you have the same economic interests as a billionaire or a large political heir, is the first step to misdiagnosing your own cash flow.
Let's start with the first seductive myth: less bureaucracy. For the micro-entrepreneur who suffers from it, this sounds like music. But tell me, did you open a bar or restaurant in São Paulo, a city that has been governed for decades by the right? Was it easy, or is it intense bureaucracy everywhere? Permit, CNAE, social contract, PSIU, health surveillance, fire department permit, and a whole lot more. All of this is determined by the municipality.
Now, the "smaller state," which means less presence, privatization, and greater autonomy to service providers, such as Enel and Sabesp. What hinders you more in your operation, the lack of light, water, or public transport for employees to leave? This is the promise of reducing the state in full operation, a thank you to Tarcísio and his team.
We've reached the peak of the argument: the free market. They want to convince you that if we have less regulation for companies, money will flow better. They just forget to say that it's not for any company, but only for the big ones.
It's the giants of the beverage industry, such as Ambev and Heineken, that control prices, impose abusive exclusivity contracts, and take all the profit margin from small retailers, while receiving billion-dollar tax exemptions that you, in Simples Nacional, will never see. Those who defend the small business against the unfair competition of large corporations understand the role of the State as a protector of micro-entrepreneurs. Let the corner store, which has become OXXO, speak for itself.
We understand that, for the bar owner, politics is generally not a theoretical or ideological discussion in Brasília. But it affects you, because it happens at the table, in the purchasing power of those who enter through the door, and in the right to use the sidewalk. When we analyze the real economy, the issues that the left defends help small businesses close their monthly accounts much more effectively than the "free market" discourse.
Because, in the end, who consumes in your bar? The multi-million dollar investor or the ordinary worker who stops after work to have a drink and eat a skewer? The revenue of a small bar depends strictly on the money circulating at the base of society, in the neighborhood, and in the community.
The traditional right-wing economic guide always focuses on freezing the minimum wage, cutting public investments, and withdrawing labor rights under the pretext of "attracting investment" (which is in Flávio Bolsonaro's plan).
In practice, the result is that people have less money in their pockets. And when money is tight for ordinary families, the first thing they cut from their budget is leisure. Happy hour disappears, customers start buying beer from the supermarket to drink at home, and the bar empties.
On the other hand, when the political focus is on the real value of the minimum wage and the protection of workers, this money goes directly into the local economy, not into an offshore account. A worker who receives a decent wage consumes, celebrates the weekend, celebrates their birthday, and spends money in the local shops. For those who own a bar, people with money in their pockets is the best business plan.
A bar is synonymous with the street, with meeting and with community life. The bar is the space of popular culture, of independent music, of affection and of bohemia. Ideologies that bet on the emptying of the streets, the privatization of public spaces and purely punitive and hygienic inspections kill the soul of street commerce.
São Paulo is a great example of this. As said, it has been governed for decades by the right, always elected with these promises that we have explained here, and everything only gets worse, whether it's traffic, buses, health, education, and even leisure. Have you seen how much a coconut drink costs in a privatized park?
Voting with an eye on your own cash means understanding that your bar will only go forward if the society around it also goes forward. The micro and small business owner is much closer to the waiter they hire than to the banker who denies them a loan. Defending democracy, the value of work and the right to a lively street is not an ideological choice, it is a choice for the survival and prosperity of your own bar.