Reply #11: Trend Line of Decline

[earthside]

The United States Postal Service from the beginning of the republic to this moment has been an institution that has unified the nation; an essential service critical to creating an informed, engaged public.

The answer is the re-creation of the Post Office Department as a cabinet-level agency; it should never have been converted into a self-sustaining institution. Like national security spending, the post office is important to the functioning of our democracy and is worth the cost.

However, it this era of teabaggers and even too many Democratic politicians cow-towing to the "public-private partnership" mantra, the prospects for the USPS are not good.

It is a sign, in my opinion, of the slow but sure decline of the United States from the world's number one economic and cultural power into a 'banana republic' plutocracy, a low-wage nation with fewer and fewer affordable services for the working class.

When delivery days are reduced, when it costs a dollar or more to mail a wedding or birthday invitation, when regular folks are at the mercy of only private corporations for parcel post service ... then we will regret letting the USPS wither away.

However, one can see very clearly where this is headed: further privatization and yet another fee-based burden on middle and working class people.