Neither snow, nor rain, nor...wait a minute!
by Hank Silverberg
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
That has been the unofficial motto of the United States Postal Service since it was chiseled in stone over the 8th Avenue Post Office in New York City in 1914. That was, until Donald Trump came along.
The slogan actually comes from Herodotus, a Greek historian describing a group of mounted Persian messengers during a war between those two countries in 449 B.C.E.
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| (Courtesy of USPS) |
"Carrier of News and Knowledge
Instrument of Trade and Industry
Promoter of Mutual Acquaintance
Of Peace and Goodwill Among Men and Nations"
At least until Donald Trump came along.
The Postal Service was the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin, the first Postmaster General, and was originally established in 1775, even before there was a United States. Later it was enshrined in the U.S. Constitution in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 7, which says Congress "is to establish Post Offices and Postal Roads."
Today USPS is an independent establishment of the Executive Branch, with over 40,000 post offices delivering 212 billion pieces of mail to 144 million homes and business across the U.S. and its territories.
The Postal Service is also bogged down by billions of dollars in pension obligations to retired employees, and is constantly being challenged by competition from the Internet and private carriers like Fed-Ex and UPS. It was never designed to make money and is highly subsidized by your tax dollars. And that's where the trouble is.
Donald Trump has decided to kill it using those facts as his excuse.
But is this really the reason the current Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who is also a large contributor to Trump's re-election campaign, has eliminated all overtime and instituted a hiring freeze, effectively slowing mail service for everyone?
The election is just three months away. Mr. Trump continues his assault on voting by mail, calling it open to fraud and unpredictable. The slowdown at the Post Office, which Trump created, could make it harder to vote during the pandemic. Many people may not want to go out and wait on long lines on election day, fearing they might catch the Coronavirus.
Voting by mail is not new. It has been used successfully in some states for a few election cycles. And of course most absentee ballots which have been used for decades, are delivered by the U.S. Postal Service.
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| (Courtesy of San Diego County) |
It is clear that the Trump administration is using the postal service's financial troubles as a weapon in its voter suppression campaign. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out.
In 2016, 130 million people cast their ballots in the Presidential election. Twenty-five percent, or 32 million, were mail-in ballots which included military serving overseas and Americans living abroad. According to the Brookings Institution there were only FOUR cases of voter fraud during that election and none of them involved mail-in votes.
Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly, who chairs a committee overseeing the Postal Service, says the Post Office funding issue has been "smoldering" for months. Democrats have been trying for some time to approve more money , but Republicans have blocked that attempt. In a tweet this week Connolly called the current situation "a five alarm fire."
That may be a good description. Half the voters in the presidential election this year could vote by mail because of the Coronavirus. Research by the Pew Trust shows 70% of Americans favor allowing the use of mail-in ballots with 67% agreeing that the pandemic will disrupt voting.
This poll was conducted last April, way before the pandemic had killed over 155,000 people and counting.
Larry Sabato, the Director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, told me that even in the low turnout primaries in June, thousands of mail- in ballots did not reach the registrars in time to be counted because they were mailed too close to the election.
Unless something is done soon, you may have to hand deliver that mail-in or absentee ballot in November to make sure it gets counted. Or mail it in early October.
It should be noted that Trump is after the Post Office for personal reasons as well. It is fueled partially by his long time feud with Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, which gets special volume rates from the Postal Service. Trump has wanted to privatize the Post Office so it can raise shipping rates and hurt the on-line giant.
Also an aside on this: If a bill you are supposed to pay arrives late and therefore makes your payment late like it did with me this week, don't get mad at your mail carrier. It's Trump's fault.
There is an alternative:
The best way to vote of course is in person on election day at a polling place. But that could be a little harder this year. First there is
the fear of standing on a long line in a hotly contested presidential race with many people around you. Some of them will be ignoring the mandatory mask requirements in multiple states.Some voters will also not be wearing masks as a political statement, ignoring all logic and science, and it's doubtful anyone will say they can't vote without a mask. Then there is the paring down of polling places in some states, partly because of a shortage of poll watchers (blame the pandemic) and partly as a voter suppression effort (blame the GOP).
You should check NOW to make sure you are legally registered and were not purged from the rolls for some legitimate or illegitimate reason. (It happens more than you think.) And you should check what I-D you might need to vote according to your state's rules.
In many states you can vote EARLY avoiding those long lines. In Virginia where I live for instance, you can go to the registrar's office in your city, town or county or a satellite voting office as early as 45 days before the election (Sept 17) to cast an in-person ballot during regular business hours, or even on Saturday. That ends the Saturday before election day, which ironically this year is Halloween (October 31st). In many states, like Virginia, you will need to show a valid government issued I-D.
Your state Board of Elections probably has the rules posted on a website like this one for Virginians:
As we heard repeatedly last week after the death of Congressman John Lewis, people have been beaten, put in jail and even murdered
defending your right to vote. Find a way to do it even with the pandemic and the political attack on the Postal Service.
Remember Franklin's words as he exited Independence Hall on July 4th, 1776 when he was asked what kind of government we were going to have?
His answer, "It's a Republic, if we can keep it!"
News Briefs:
There will be only 366 delegates there, one for every six who would have normally gone in pre-Covid days.
This restriction on media coverage would be unprecedented in modern American political history. The reasoning is a limit on attendance because of Covid-19. The President is not going to do an official acceptance speech in Charlotte, but he may go there to talk to some of the delegates in private, again no press.
Since the Arkansas Democrat Gazette first reported this, the RNC has indicated they are still working on the logistics and may reconsider. Don't count on it. As the Washington Post declares on it's masthead, "Democracy Dies in Darkness".
And then there is this:
Elon Musk has done some pretty good things and some pretty crazy things, but this one tops them all. He apparently tweeted out a long- running conspiracy theory that extra-terrestrials actually built the Egyptian pyramids. As you can see, that did not play well in Cairo.
I follow your work with a lot of admiration. I invite you & Space X to explore the writings about how the pyramids were built and also to check out the tombs of the pyramid builders. Mr. Musk, we are waiting for you .
The Egyptian International Cooperation Minister has invited the SpaceX billionaire to come see for himself. Archaeologists in Egypt say they have the building plans and proof that the ancient Egyptians constructed the well-known tombs of the Pharaohs without E-T's help.
Mr. Musk should probably leave history and politics alone and stick to spending his billions on space travel.
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| (SpaceX Dragon with the astronauts still on board being lifted out of the Gulf of Mexico, Sunday) |
That seems to be working out pretty well with the successful landing of the SpaceX Dragon this past weekend. That came after a smooth liftoff, two months docked with the International Space Station, a successful splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and the safe recovery of astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. It's a firm indication that the public/private partnership with NASA has worked to this point.
Update:
Here is an update on an item I posted several months ago. Washington State has captured it's first "murder hornet". You may remember first reports circulated last December about the nasty insect making an appearance in the U.S. It was spotted at least five times. Now they have trapped one in Whatcom County and it gives the Washington State Agriculture Department less than two months to catch the rest before mating season.
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| (The Murder hornet) |
They must find the nest in order to eradicate the invasive pest. If the huge hornets establish themselves they could have a big impact on the environment, economy and public health in that area and beyond.
These insects are two inches long, have an orange and yellow head and prominent eyes. Native honeybees which pollinate local crops are in real danger. The hornet can destroy a honeybee hive in a few hours. That's no laughing matter. One third of the Washington State's food supply is dependent on honeybee pollination. If you live in that area and see one, call in the state immediately.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
(It's not fake news, it's fiction. My book "The Campaign" is on sale now. You can purchase a copy on line at the links below, or you can purchase one at a reduced rate directly from me with a signature by emailing me at HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions.)
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