Column: Family-owned businesses are America's backbone

During the 1992 presidential campaign, then-candidate Bill Clinton famously intoned, “I feel your pain,” reassuring voters he understood what they were going through. Since then, similar statements of empathy have become a staple for politicians. But it doesn’t always ring true for every constituent.

Take family business owners, for example.

Family businesses account for 50 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, generate 60 percent of the country’s employment, and account for 78 percent of all new job creation, the Conway Center for Family-owned Business reports.

Most elected officials have n...