Do we really have to defend the post office now?

Today’s image is from Dean Moriarty

Has your mail been on time? If it has been, it might not be for long. Because apparently, we have to defend all of our rights in 2020, including the mail.

That’s right. I’m bringing a bonus post to you this week because we have to get the word out. 

I’m sure if you pay any attention to the news, you’ve heard Trump talk about how terrible mail-in voting is. How it’s not the same as absentee voting and will lead to rampant voter fraud. Spoiler, he’s wrong. Mail-in voting is the same thing as absentee voting. There is no difference.

But since Trump couldn’t fear-monger about that, he’s taken some additional steps to dismantle our postal service. And yes, I do have receipts.

Let’s start with Louis DeJoy, who was given the job of Postmaster General on June 15th. Fun fact, he used to own a lot of shares in Amazon and UPS. He sold, well, some of them. He’s also a long time contributor to the Republican party with no experience in the postal system. He’s the first Postmaster General to ever not have experience with the post office.

These are facts. Make of them what you will. 

Another fact is that Trump ordered the removal and dismantling of 671 high volume mail processing machines. This started in June, by the way. Again, just facts. Why this was done is up for debate. Some say it’s more cost-effective. What I don’t get is, and tell me if you have an answer for this, why it saves money to get rid of something that you already have. I assume it won’t save me money to have my dishwasher taken out.

The machines aren’t just being removed. They’re being dismantled. Why? No one knows. At least, no one’s saying on the record. 

This might not be intentional, but it sure as hell feels like it is. It feels like a way to rig the election in a year we need an election. It feels like a way to sabotage mail-in voting during a pandemic when it might literally kill you to go vote. It feels like some people saw some polls that suggested they might not win and decided to do something about it. This isn’t speculation on my part so much as it’s an educated guess.

Then, of course, there’s the removal of sidewalk mailboxes. You know, the cute little blue ones that if you’ve ever lived in an apartment building you kind of rely on? They’re being removed. Not everywhere, just in Democratic-leaning areas and swing states.

All of this wouldn’t be so suspicious, I guess if Trump hadn’t flat out said he was blocking funds to the post office to derail mail-in voting. He said it, not me. I just say he’s an unconstitutional scumbag.

So what can we do about it? Write to your representatives. Here’s a link to the Resist app. It makes it easy to contact your local reps and let them know what you think about this. You can also let them know what you think about them taking a month-long break in the middle of a pandemic that has people out of work unable to pay their bills. You can, if you so chose, tell them to get their asses back to work and protect our postal service. Our constitutionally protected postal service.

We only get to keep the rights we fight for.