Outrage!

Of all the egregious hurtful insults to our democracy by the Trump administration, the effort to cripple the US Postal Service is perhaps the clearest cut 'lance to the heart' threatening our republic since Trump took office.  He openly admitted that he will do all he can to block crucial supplemental funding to the Post Office to handle the surge in postal traffic resulting from voting by mail in the upcoming election.  And at the same time, he has declared that he will not sign a relief bill that is desperately needed to mitigate the suffering of the millions of unemployed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic--why?... because it provides for that USPS support.  The fact that Republicans equally use voting-by-mail doesn't matter.  The chaos will allow him to claim the election is rigged.

 

What he is saying is that he is afraid that if we are allowed to vote by mail he will lose the election, so therefore he is not going to allow it.  I wonder what the founding fathers would say to that.  There could not be a clearer and more nefarious effort to thwart the foundation of our democracy.  Our right to vote is fundamental.  Trump is saying that he is not going to let us exercise this fundamental right because it might cause him to fail in his bid for re-election.

 

Louis DeJoy, Trump's appointee to the position of Postmaster General, has instituted policies that will cripple the ability of the USPS to handle the millions of ballots that will flood the system because a majority of Americans are frightened to vote in person and risk exposure to the pandemic virus.  DeJoy has shortened hours and declared there will be no overtime.  He has decommissioned from service sorting machinery to be used to handle the surge in traffic.  He has told postal workers to let mail pile up at the Post Office suppressing delivery.  He has mandated that mail ballots be treated as bulk mail, making it less likely to be delivered on time and making mail that is not delivered eligible to be 'recycled' (destroyed).  He has also changed procedures for delivering mail resulting in not enough time to sort mail in the mornings before delivery, which will delay the delivery.  He has ousted two top officials and reshuffled the positions of two dozen other officials that will cause chaos and delay mail and critical prescription drug shipments for veterans and seniors.  He was removing mailboxes until today when there was a hue and cry to stop doing it.

 

"The whole nefarious effort is to suppress millions of mail-in ballots and threaten the voting rights of millions of Americans setting the stage for a breach of our Constitution.", said Rep. Peter Fazio, Democrat of Oregon.

 

Since we are aware of this effort, which Trump has clearly stated is his objective, why are we not able to thwart it?  Surely there must be some legislative action the House of Representatives can take to insure that the support is supplied where needed.  I get the feeling that while everyone is outraged that Trump is taking these actions, there is no way to prevent him from crippling the Post Office and following through with his threat, especially since his appointee is following his instructions.   Why can't the House of Representatives find a way to defund his wall; initiate some sort of judicial action; hold back other funds that he wants.....something!!!

 

The only way Trump apparently can be stopped is for the Republicans in Congress to finally stand up for  our fundamental right to vote.  I actually don't think they will!  To a man (with the possible exception of Mitt Romney) they are complicit in this dagger to the heart of our democracy.  They are failing their oath to defend and protect the Constitution by not defending our right to vote.   They have no right to serve the citizens of this great country.  They are traitors.

 

Wickedness is in the highest levels of our government.   If this effort succeeds, will we risk our lives and vote in person in spite of the pandemic?  How many more Americans will die as a result?  We may have to find out the hard way in order to finally rid ourselves of the scourge of Trump and his sycophants.

The Post Office is the foundation of what makes us a coherent society, and Trump is purposefully destroying it piece by piece.  Why are we letting him do that??  Journalists from around the world are commenting that our democracy is in its last days.  They can see from afar what we are all too numb to see right in front of us.  If we don't stand up for our country, we are going to wake up on a bright sunny morning in the very near future and America will be gone.  We better push back......