NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN NOR HEATAugust 7, 2020
The unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service long has been, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” What does? An American president hellbent on making a mockery of the Constitution and democracy.
Polls indicate that Donald Trump badly trails Joe Biden in this year’s presidential campaign. They’ve put Trump in panic mode.
His bungling response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying economic crash have turned a great many undecideds to Biden. More, the pandemic has emphasized the need to provide the option of voting by mail to all Americans.
Nothing new here. Voting by mail in the U.S. is common. Trump votes by mail. But our would-be Vladimir Putin condemns “mail fraud” and a “rigged” election. Translation: An election in which all citizens have a vote and so threaten to turn out the incumbent—by a wide margin. Even so, Trump just flip-flopped and “approved” voting by mail in Florida, a state ravaged by the coronavirus. Florida seniors—including Republicans—like voting by mail.
Does that make everything okay? Check out Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. A Trump henchman, he took the position three months ago. NPR’s Brian Naylor reported (5-7-20): “DeJoy has contributed more than $1.2 million to the Trump Victory Fund, and millions more to Republican Party organizations and candidates, according to Federal Election Commission records. He was also in charge of fundraising for the Republican National Convention.”
DeJoy almost immediately cut overtime and hours for postal workers to reduce the USPS’s multi-billion annual losses. How curious that he did so in the months leading to November’s election. Which imperils mail-in ballots. Counting votes beyond November 3—even if Trump appears to have been soundly defeated—will encourage Trump to negate election results and seek to stay in office. We could face a crisis worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Americans must respond. Vote? Of course. Before then? Support candidates—Congressional and state—opposed to Trump. And raise your voice.
Monday, I emailed—through their web sites—several important officials with this message:
Fifty-three years ago today, my buddy 1LT Howie Schnabolk, an Army medevac pilot, was shot down and killed. I write in his memory to urge you to do everything within the powers of your office to maintain every American’s right to vote in this November’s presidential election. This includes making available mail-in ballots to those who wish to use them, and advocating for adequate funding and monitoring the USPS to assure complete and on-time delivery.
As newly commissioned Army officers, Howie and I swore to protect and defend the Constitution. Howie gave his life for it. Please do all you can to uphold Howie’s memory and those of all Americans who died in our wars to protect democracy.
The recipients:
- California Governor Gavin Newsom: gov.ca.gov
- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra: go.xavierbecerra.com/page/s/contact
- U.S. Senator Kamala Harris: harris.senate.gov/contact
- U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein: feinstein.senate.gov
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: schumer.senate.gov
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: pelosi.house.gov
- Representative Jackie Speier: speier.house.gov
- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: mcconnell.senate.gov
I’m not Chicken Little crying that the sky is falling. But cracks in our political firmament pose a clear and present danger. The ball’s in our court.
To respond, click on “comments” to the right just below the title of this post. Then go to the response space at the bottom of the post.
BINGO!Bring that mean bastard down.
Hope. David, springs eternal. But we know that it will take more than hope.
In May my adult son was hired as an emergency postal employee to help with the deluge of packages that pour through the system as folks shop for goods and necessities on line. He worked in the warehouse where, amid dust and heat, diligent postal workers sort the millions of letters and packages that we post, 24 hours a day.
Imagine any other system where for about 54 cents (34 cents for a postcard) someone will come to your house, take a letter from your mail box, and it will be delivered 3000 miles away at your sister’s house, in two or three days! And multiply this by the fact that the USPS is the “last mile” deliverer of a large portion of both UPS and Amazon deliveries.
Scanners read the addresses where possible, for letters that fit properly, and then…humans take those letters, load them onto trucks, drive them to central processing warehouses, sort them further, put them on trucks, take them to the airport, you get the picture.
On August 16, the directive that no overtime will be permitted, and all emergency workers are laid off came down. He was told not to come to work that day, or at all. He’s unemployed now, and the directive to the permanent workers is, “No overtime. No help. Work your ass off until your shift is over, and whatever wasn’t done will wait until tomorrow.”
This is a deliberate move to take advantage of power. In the deluge of packages that fly back and forth as we stay out of stores, in the wave of mailings that we send when we can’t travel, in all that are your ballots.
Of course we should vote by mail, no matter who we’re voting for. It’s safe to send our tax payments by mail, it’s safe to send assistance checks–complete with a letter signed by the president–by mail, and it’s been safe to vote by mail in California for at least 20 years.
The only difference is a president and an administration who think they can game the system, abuse their power, and endanger an entire nation of human beings, just to get their way. Despicable.
Claudia, I agree with you 100 percent. And I’m sorry to hear that your son lost his job and the opportunity to play a vital role in this nation’s economic and political life.