The latest item that the socialist liberals are having orgasms over is that president Trump is trying to destroy the Post Office to stop mail in votes and interfere with the election. Frankly I'm tired of the hatred and derangement of the Trump haters. All that we've head, every week for the last three plus years is how Donald Trump did something wrong and he's going to be removed, only to discover just a few days later that it's not true. So let's look at what's actually happening. Mail in voting is a bad idea, which I will address later. First though, let's look at the Post Office. The Post Office has a unique and strange position, it's not a branch or part of the federal government, although employees are federal, and part of the Civil Service Retirement system. These are some extracts from documents found on federal government web sites. They can help understand how the PO is supposed to work.
In 1971, the Postal Reorganization Act, eliminated the old Post Office Department, replacing it with the US Postal Service. The act was intended to make the USPS self-financing from its own revenues, and to make it an independent, non-political public service. Prior to the PRA, postmasters (including the postmaster general) were political appointees; rates were set by Congress, and the POD had to go through the appropriations process to get the money it needed to operate.
This is from the PRA of 1971;
”The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States”. It also defines the USPS as “an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States”.
So the act in 1971 was supposed to set the PO to independently operate and be self supporting. As a part of the executive branch it comes directly under the pervue of the president.
Since 2006, primarily due to some really dumb legislation, and poor managment, the PO has been operating at some significant losses. Almost 70 billion dollars in debt since then.
So now here we are, with losses just last year of nearly 9 billion dollars, and the PO comes directly under president Trump. (Losses in the previous two years were 2.7 and 3.9 billion). So enough is enough. Something HAS to change. And so our current president, being primarily a business man, and understanding that every business needs to make a profit, is making changes. It has nothing to do with the coming election, it's simply needed to stop the hemorrhaging of money. Most folks really can't grasp what 9 billion dollars means. So let's try to put things in perspective. The average American will amass about 2.7 million dollars of gross earnings in a lifetime. (This is average, college grads (bachelors) should be slightly over 3 million, and high school grads around 2.2). Currently in the area where I live, one of the local high schools, Palm Bay Heritage, has about 1900 students. The money lost by the PO in the last year would pay the lifetime wages of twice the population of Palm Bay Heritage high.
So now let's look at some basic reasons why mail in voting is not a good idea. Initially, I don't understand the constant objection to requiring a photo ID to vote. One needs an ID to purchase about half of all prescription medications, to buy tobacco, and alcohol. An ID is needed to cross borders, but not to vote. The only logical reason for not wanting to show ID is to make fraud easier. Without the ID requirement, people cast multiple votes and dead people vote. I just had a discussion with someone who did not believe this but just a quick internet search will show several documented cases. It's the undocumented though, if we know that some are doing it and getting caught, then others are not getting caught. The most secure method to vote is in person with ID. The second most secure is simply in person.
Mail in voting being bad has very little to do with the PO. Potentially it could have something to do with some employees. It's more that a lot of people simply do not follow directions. In a recent mail in campaign in New York, up to a quarter of mail in votes were disqualified because the voter did something wrong. Similar things have been happening in other cities.
Maintaining control and accountability of each vote is crucial. But there are other problems. What will stop someone from casting multiple ballots in someone else name? If I drive around town and just look at yard signs, I can determine what candidate someone supports. Then I can fill out just two or three extra ballots in that person's name while selecting the opposing party. If the votes are caught as duplicate, they are all thrown out, If not caught, I have nullified the cast vote and added an extra for the opposing party. No mail in voting is not a good idea, it has nothing to do with the PO abilities and has nothing to do with president Trump trying to fix something that's bleeding money.
