4 ms·
The GOP is clearly intent on tearing down USPS but I've never actually understood the rationale for it - USPS has traditionally been self-funded and (without un
by munk-a 6y ago
The GOP is clearly intent on tearing down USPS but I've never actually understood the rationale for it - USPS has traditionally been self-funded and (without unreasonable financial burdens involving pre-paying pensions) would continue to be a revenue source rather than sink today. Mail is also a bit of an assumed service in the US so I don't know why there is a lack of understanding that privatization would lead to a lack in service quality in rural areas (where the GOP shows the strongest).
I do understand it's part of the whole "government small enough you can drown it in a bathtub" philosophy but it seems like a really silly service to go after. It provides clear societal benefits - has an insanely high quality of service (just look at CanadaPost and offerings in Europe) extremely low cost for use and is integral to a lot of social services (taxes, voting, census etc...) there are much bigger government boogie men to go after than USPS.
- pradn 6y agoThe existence of a well-run government agency goes against free-marketeer beliefs that the government can never do anything right. The USPS flies in the face of that. Unionized government employees also typically lean Democratic, too.
- munk-a 6y agoThat actually seems pretty credible - get rid of the big counter-example to your argument.
- throwaway5752 6y agoYou have to look at the breakup of the Soviet state to modern Russia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch) and see the massive, massive profit opportunities with USPS privatization. DeJoy made his fortune from selling a logistic company to XPO, where he was an executive for a while post-acquistion, in addition to his political beliefs and alliances.
- creaghpatr 6y agoNot sure if this the actual rationale, but a potential explanation: https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/19/politics/osc-usps-hillary-clinton-hatch-act/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/19/politics/osc-usps-hillary-cli... A government investigation concluded that the United States Postal Service "improperly coordinated" with a postal workers union that supported Hillary Clinton's campaign.
- triceratops 6y ago...by giving 97 workers union time off to perform political activities. It seems like a petty reason to trash an organization that receives no taxpayer funding, and punish the millions of poor and rural Americans that depend on it.
- munk-a 6y agoThe timing doesn't line up - the USPS has been under attack since well before 2017. This reason might be reinforcement, but it can't be part of the core rationale. And, honestly, there are "politicalish" scandals like this pretty frequently - I don't know if you recall the uproar about the IRS targeting conservative groups a few years back[1]. 1. Which was, for clarity, disproven after the fact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy