Romney Would Eliminate the US Postal Service

Someone recently asked me how I could justify voting for Barack Obama while still considering myself to be a moral person. This question troubled me, not because supporting President Obama and being a "moral" person are mutually exclusive, but because people actually think themselves to be superior to others.

I responded to this question as I have responded to many others who have asked me similar questions:

If you worked for an agency that was threatened with drastic overhauls that directly impacted you and your family and your finances, wouldn't you do everything you could to see to it that the person who sought to dismantle your livelihood would not be elected?

People don't seem to be aware of Romney's plans for the US Postal Service. It's quite simple. He and his economic advisers like Kevin Hassett would eliminate the USPS. I wonder if Mitt Romney has ever so much as set foot inside a Post Office, or even purchased a postage stamp?

Why has the GOP turned a non-partisan government agency into such a polarizing issue? The political power wielded by unions, generally in support of Democrats, is great. Weakening those unions is key to ultimately eliminating them. If the APWU is eliminated, it is clear that other unions will follow suit.

On September 3, 2008, at the very beginning of his campaign, while speaking at the Republican National Convention, Romney stated "we must stand up to the tyrannosaurus appetite of Government Unions." The largest collection of federal union workers in the country is the USPS.

Hassett, in addressing Tea Party activists, stated that "”The possibility for real gain in the U.S. is enormous. The Postal Service owns or operates 33,000 facilities nationwide, and owns 219,000 vehicles. If we were to auction it off to private investors, the bids would likely be enormous. FedEx and UPS, for example, have a combined market capitalization of almost $100 billion. Given that, how much might a private bidder offer for the right to start a business with the Postal Service’s footprint? The $100 billion mark might be a good first guess. If the Tea Party activists want to fix the country, they should start by privatizing the Postal Service. If we can’t fix that, then it is hard to imagine how we will ever fix anything.” It strikes me as ironic that the Tea Party activists, who view the US Constitution as almost sacred, would be the ones challenged to dismantle an institution that is established in Article  1, Section 8, of the Constitution: "establish post offices and post roads." 

Selling off the Postal Service is clearly a priority for Romney. Profits for the wealthy supersede the needs of the citizens of our nation who rely on the Postal Service. Why are politicians pushing to eliminate a vital service to millions of Americans? Indeed, it seems like a crusade against workers and the public that relies on the service provided by the Post Office is merely collateral damage. 

Politics - more than the internet or technology - are endangering the very survival of the US Postal Service.

Vote for the USPS... vote for Obama.

In solidarity,

Maria