Keystone Today

The Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania has launched a new division called the Entrepreneurship Protection Program (EPP), which seeks to mitigate against alleged attacks upon the American dream.

“The American dream truly is entrepreneurship,” said Joshua Nulph, director of public outreach for the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania. “It’s alive but it’s under attack. People want more socialism in America. So the American dream is something that has to be protected and preserved. We have to fight for the freedom to step up, start a business and have the ability to just go out and do it.”

The program created a series of three videos with the primary video centering around the question, ''What if the American Dream died?'’ and a second asking '‘What if you could not have started your business?'’

Joshua Nulph, director of public outreach for the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania | Joshua Nulph

“We have three main goals,” Nulph told Keystone Today. “We want to provide digital education. We want to provide entrepreneurial advocacy and we want to inspire entrepreneurs to rise and serve.”

The first video features former Pennsylvania legislator John Kennedy, who owned a railroad company and now owns the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, EPP’s partner. The second features U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a military man who started his own business and ran for Congress. The third features Jeff Lord, author and Fox News contributor, discussing the differences between and definitions of socialism and capitalism.

“If you truly love and value America and what it stands for and you have $10 a month to give, you can donate on our website,” said Nulph in an interview. “That's how we're funding our work and offering content for free.”

Inspired to create EPP by his passion for entrepreneurship, Nulph teamed with entrepreneur businessman Anson Flake. The launch is timely, given COVID-19 governmental shutdowns.

“This whole situation impacted more than just the business owners,” he said. “It impacted the people they employ. That's what businesses do. They employ. They create. They innovate and challenge the status quo, which is something that's so special. We're going to make sure that entrepreneurship is preserved.”

The EPP aims to preserve entrepreneurship in the U.S. forever by, among other things, motivating elected officials to advocate and vote for free-market policies within the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

“We need people who are in the state Legislature advocating for business policy and who are there to protect businesses,” Nulph said. “We have great freedom fighters like Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Pa.) who has been fighting from day one to advocate for businesses to reopen safely.” 

Rather than businesses being categorized as essential or non-essential during the pandemic, Nulph would have preferred had government officials classified businesses as safe versus unsafe based on the safety of the business.

“They then could have worked with the businesses that were deemed unsafe based on data and statistics to determine how best to promote and allow them to operate in some way, shape or form,” he said.