Can Social Entrepreneurship Save America?

I've been paying attention to the recent rise of the US Uncut movement currently targeting Bank of America for tax evasion. Their premise is spot on. Large corporations spend astonishing amounts of money buying politicians, hiring armies of lobbyists, hiding money in tax havens and using shady accounting tricks to intentionally avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Corporations often cite market and shareholder pressure as the cause for their singular focus on maximizing profit (even at the expense of many American jobs and of real investment in America). Watching the decimation of Main Street, I've been thinking these excuses just aren't good enough any more.

America has a jobs crisis. We have a deficit problem. So many things need fixing. And corporations are not on our side. We can complain and carry signs and write our congressmen. We can be conscientious consumers, donate to our causes, and we can vote. But that only goes so far. Now we need to do something new. We need to steal marketshare.

America needs social entrepreneurs, the rare breed of businessman I've heard about from time to time over the years. We need those guys. Smart ones, and as many of them as we can get. We need strategic, enterprising nonprofits that can displace the worst of the corporations. Nonprofit businesses that won't squeeze every penny out of their company and customers for the purpose of transferring wealth to shareholders and overpaid executives, jumping out the window under a golden parachute of obscene wealth when they mess up or destroy the broader economy in the process.

If as a social entrepreneur you could make a decent living, knowing that you have the opportunity to build a clean, efficient little company that delivers quality services and is known for supporting the community, wouldn't you do it? You're not going to take home pay like an uber rich "investment" banker, but you're not going to bleed your own country dry to feed a meaningless life of overconsumption and self-absorbed privilege while your community burns down around you either.

Such a movement would take principled people. It would take impeccable business plans. But it would also be exciting and potentially game-changing in a bruised and divided nation that has had a lot of bad news with more bad news as far as the eye can see. There must be an opportunity to make a name for oneself for helming a great little company that took marketshare away from the giants and didn't sell their soul to do it. I'd LOVE to see a group of successful social entrepreneurs using the rules of capitalism to create quality, affordable goods and services that steal marketshare from the worst of our corporate actors. No more exhorbitant bonuses or large dividends slipped into the pockets of distant shareholders who don't care about community health and stability or sustainable growth. Instead there would be solid jobs for working people, quality services at a fair price, good corporate citizenship, responsible accounting and payment of taxes (no offshore tax havens - imagine that!). There must be thousands of possibilities for upsetting the terrible status quo in sectors all over the economy. Banking? Insurance? Healthcare? Find the worst actors from among the corporations and then figure out how to take marketshare away from them. The stakes couldn't be higher.