For years, Big Business lobby groups have been advancing a legislative agenda to limit the liability of corporations that cause injuries. One of their principal arguments is that tort restrictions are needed to allow small businesses to survive. Yet internal business surveys have consistently shown this view to be utterly groundless.

Whether the Green Mountain State keeps moving forward with its goal of achieving universal coverage while also reducing the growth of health care spending depends largely on how the state's residents and businesses react to what Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has in mind.

There is one arena in which misleading the public not only is abided but is the norm: politics. In fact, much of what constitutes political discourse in this country is now built on a foundation of dishonesty.

By all accounts, Small Business Saturday was a smashing success. Now, in order to kick the American economy into over drive, it's time to convert it from an annual event to a year-long one. That is why 2014 will be The Year of Small Business