Today, I joined Ohio business leaders and Campaign for Free Enterprise Managing Vice President Brian Gunderson in an important discussion in Dayton about how best to create the more than 452,088 jobs we need in Ohio over the next decade to get our state’s economy back on track. Although this is no small task, Ohio has always been a vanguard of innovation – from Dayton natives Orville and Wilbur Wright creating their "Flying Machine" in 1906 to Ohio State University engineer L.S. Fan’s development of Eggshell-Based Hydrogen Fuel technology in 2008.  

Nationwide our challenge is greater: we need to create 20 million jobs over the next ten years.  Only a strong free enterprise system can get us there. That is why, as part of our discussion, Ohio business leaders --- including myself --- pledged their support for the Chamber’s American Free Enterprise. Dream Big. campaign, aimed at spurring job creation and economic growth through a strengthened free enterprise system.

The free enterprise campaign is holding dialogue events like the one I participated in all over the country to engage Americans in the discussion and to remind everyone that it is only through a vibrant free enterprise system that our nation can get back on the path of success.

Join us in the discussion that’s going on all around the country. Lend your voice to a free enterprise dialogue in your community. Sign the Free Enterprise pledge and support the only system that can get our economy going again. Our challenge is great, but together, we can meet it. Join us!

Phillip Parker is the President and CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.