YOUR LETTERS: Americans should be outraged by what’s happening to our postal system

All American citizens should be outraged by two things happening to our postal system:

• It is being used as a weapon to steal the presidential election.
• It is being sabotaged by forces who may be planning to privatize it.

Millions of voters — because of the coronavirus pandemic — will be casting their votes by mail in November.

But their ability to cast votes — and to have them counted — is in grave danger from President Trump and his new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy.

Mail-sorting machines recently have been being ripped out of post offices and blue mailboxes have been removed from neighborhoods, while new work orders and overtime restrictions have thrown a monkey wrench into efforts to move the mail as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, DeJoy has publicly said he does not plan to restore the sorting machines or mailboxes to the system.

It’s obvious what’s going on: President Trump has been watching the national polls and knows he will not be re-elected if he has to face a fair and honest election.

So he’s cheating.

Trump says he wants to prevent voter fraud, for which there is no evidence, and he offers that as an excuse why he is refusing to provide additional funding to the postal service during the pandemic.

And he has chosen a postmaster general willing to cripple timely mail deliveries precisely when American voters will need the mail service the most.

Trump’s hatchet man, DeJoy, is a longtime Republican mega-donor who has absolutely no experience working in the postal system.

However, he does have a lot of experience in logistics and shipping. Ironically, a government contract years ago with the U.S. Postal Service helped DeJoy launch his business. Now he has his hands in a number of businesses in direct competition with the postal service — a blatant conflict of interest.

Does DeJoy plan to run the postal system into the ground and then sell it off to private delivery interests — or even buy it himself?

Americans need and deserve our beloved and dependable postal system for voting in November, as well as for medications, Social Security checks and countless other reasons year-round.

The postal system — a dependable public service as old as the country itself — must not now become a victim of greedy corporate raiders.

As president of the Missouri Alliance for Retired Americans, I strongly urge everyone to call their U.S. senators and representatives and tell them to do whatever is necessary to support our postal system and to stop Trump’s intentional sabotage.

Call toll-free your U.S. senator at 877-607-0785 and your U.S. representative at 866-202-5409.

Please act now — before it’s too late.

DAVID MEINELL
President
Missouri Alliance for Retired Americans