I have long been advocating using mail-in ballots during the pandemic.
No more, I'm afraid to say.
With it becoming more and more apparent the Donald is working hard, very hard, to destroy our beloved (and oldest quasi government institution) post office--and with it the lives of seven of my personal friends, not to mention the other 497,000 postal office workers, it is completely feasible his actions could throw the upcoming election.
The Donald is already seeding a path to cast doubt on the postal service's ability to deliver--figuratively and literally. Donald wants to scapegoat the USPS to call into question the ability to deliver ballots for the upcoming election. He is already calling the election "rigged, most corrupt" and fraught with fraud.
Mind you, when Donald calls out anyone of not playing fair, don't you dare take your eyes for one second off of him.
When he says, "some are saying," you can bet money those voices are solely in his sick, self-serving, mafioso mind.
Witness, his choice for U.S. Postmaster (and his wife) own stock, lots of stock, to the USPS' biggest competitors. Can you say conflict of interest? He has ordered budget cuts left and right leading to a slow down of delivery times. Ask my friends Shane and Sherri about their typical 50-70 hour work weeks due to long time staffing shortages.
Trump's grudge with USPS is its alliance with Amazon. Jeff Bezos is one of Trump's biggest thorns and Trump is clearly trying to cripple anyone who he sees as a threat. It matters little that his desire to destroy Bezos can also cripple the USPS.
THINK! Think about it. In nearly every community across the land one of the central unifying institutions, something we all have in common IS a post office. Even podunk Athens, Indiana, (46912) population less than 250 people has a post office. Multiply this by the thousands of towns, tiny, small, medium, and metropolises alike all have post offices who service ALL Americans, rich or poor. State populations vary from region to region. Look at states like Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and other north-central/western were towns can be hundreds of miles apart. Did you know the longest (daily driving distance) postal route in America is 242 miles?
Destroy the postal service and this tie for all Americans could be irretrievably severed. Why is this important to us? No matter where one mails a parcel, the postage is the very affordable 55 cents. Can UPS, DTS, Fed Ex, Global, and others make this same claim? Do these companies even offer all the services USPS does to all communities?
Back to the subject. The Donald and the GOP are doing all they can to make voting more difficult... closing down voting centers, making wait times longer, casting aspersions on the many systems that have worked well (overall, that is) during our country's numerous election cycles. When the GOP (co-opted by the Donald) says that mail-in voting invites cheating, the facts do not support that claim. Many states have been doing it for decades, ditto for our Armed Services.
If the USPS is good enough for the census, jury duty notifications, mailing our annual taxes, and many other legal documents, it is--and has been--good enough for our voting ballot... That is, until now. *
* Donald Trump used a mail-in ballot in Florida's last voting cycle. Sauce for goose not good the gander?
Vote you must! Vote in person. Vote absentee. And if you must vote by mail, do it early because of the increasingly difficult demands being placed upon our USPS. I would even suggest paying the extra amount for priority mail and requiring a signature upon delivery so that you know your voice, your vote made it to its destination.
I do not like being an alarmist... or like subscribing to conspiracy theories, but there are forces afoot to rob you and me of our given right to the government we want and deserve, a government for we, the people.
Do not let them!
