In the age of Trump, there's never a shortage of topics for posts. Ordinarily, that would make it difficult to select a topic for the coming week. Or, I might just choose not to right about the Orange Iguana and, for a change of pace, write about something positive, such as Vice President Joe Biden's selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. After all, for about twenty-four hours after I heard about the Biden-Harris ticket, I felt as though I had been magically been transported out of Trumpland, as least emotionally, and had gone back to the world in which politics could be a vehicle for progress.
But that feeling didn't last very long And, for the same reason, although there are still a smorgasbord of topics to chose from, there's only one topic I can write about right now.
And that is the existential threat to our democratic elections currently being posed by Trump, who has become the Godfather in the Oval Office.
I'll explain exactly why I call him that in a few moments. Right now, I want to comment on the systemic destruction of a constitutionally-mandated function for the sole purpose of rigging the fall elections: the destruction, more specifically, of the U.S. Postal Service.
At a time when the nation in under siege from a pandemic with no national plan to combat it, a siege so severe that the United States has become an international pariah for travel purposes, a siege so severe that the American economic engine is almost literally running on empty, a siege so severe that millions of us are living in our homes in fear for their lives, and those of their families, it faces an election that matters like none before it. The ability of every adult citizen to vote has never been more essential. And there is only one means by which to ensure that ability: voting by mail.
Voting by mail has taken place in U.S. elections for decades without any serious problems or objections to the practice. It's the means by which Americans overseas--including, and especially, military personnel--are able to vote. It possesses one major advantage over electronic voting: it creates a paper trail beyond the reach of hackers, domestic and foreign. There are already five states in which voting by mail is the only way to vote, and voting takes place in those states without partisan objections, or any at all.
And the Post Office is one of the most well-regarded agencies of the federal government. It touches the lives of every American, every day, and plays a vital role not only in the nation's commerce, but also the personal lives of our must vulnerable citizens, in providing the delivery of necessities from Social Security checks to medicine for veterans. It delivers millions of gifts each holiday season on time; in fact, in one movie (not counting remakes), it has even been able to prove the existence of Santa Claus.
That scene from the original "Miracle on 34th Street" includes one moment not included in the clip: a statement by Santa's attorney that attests not only to the Post Office's efficiency, but also to the fact that federal law criminalizes the misdirection or misdelivery of U.S. mail.
Which is exactly what Donald Trump is doing, right now, in broad daylight, and brazenly admitting it on television. Moreover, he's not just doing it passively, by refusing to authorize additional funding for the Post Office; he's also authorizing his hand-picked, conflicted Postmaster General to systematically vandalize postal facilities around the country. And today, to top it all off, he held a news conference at which he said he'd consider agreeing to additional Post Office funding if Democrats made other coronavirus relief concessions. Presumably, this would include the unlimited corporate coronavirus liability that Mitch McCONnell earlier stated was the hill he would die on.
Donald Trump is literally holding the existence of the American system of government for ransom. This is what Mafia Dons do, which is probably why his first name feels so appropriate. And that is why I stated, earlier, that we have a Godfather in the Oval Office. Of course, Mafia dons also demand percentages of business deals that take place in their "territories." If only Trump was guilty of something like that ... oh, wait!
Democrats need to get off their political duffs. Hearings, subpoenas, and the generous use of the Sergeant-at-Arms have to be the order of the day. And the rest of us? We have to be in the streets, in the faces of Republican office holders, and yes, at the door of the Postmaster General.
We are under the thumb of the most sophisticated crime syndicate in world history. The only way to get out from under that thumb is to fight.
No comments:
Post a Comment