LogFAQs > #943146423

BakusaiTenketsu posted...

Well this particular move is going to make money for the post office, which it desperately needs, and voters don't pay for it, states do.

See, I think you're looking at this in a vacuum in which this move may not seem objectionable on its face but when you take it in the broader context of what the GOP is doing there's a clear pattern and intent.

The GOP has steadfastly refused to: give sufficient aid to states wrt the pandemic, give sufficient funding (or just not outright try to sabotage) to USPS, and give sufficient funding for elections.

Now each prong of that has a myriad of reasons why the GOP is doing this (cruelty, trying to privatize mail services, lack of interest in securing democratic processes as their ability to actually win them fairly slips further, etc.) however there is also a through-line that connects the three - trying to hamper vote by mail.

They have explicitly objected to additional funding for election security for, among other reasons, belief that it'll encourage states to expand vote by mail. Their attempts to kill USPS are pretty self-explanatory on how this would hurt it as well. However, their reluctance to help the states is the insidious factor here. Unlike the federal government which can run deficits as much as they like, the states are not allowed to do so. And, unsurprisingly, a pandemic incurs a lot of costs on them. Since the Trump Administration has decided to basically go "it's on the states to handle this" at best, and bid against them causing price hikes on supplies at worst, state budgets have gotten especially hammered. A sane, compassionate federal government would... y'know... help them out with the cost. Instead states are being forced to make draconian cuts in order to keep the budget balanced. It'd be tough for them to handle vote-by-mail expenses normally in this environment, but with the USPS upping the rates (whether it "should be" or not) and an election where vote-by-mail is expected to be at its biggest because of the pandemic... states will either have to make even deeper cuts in other areas or downsize vote-by-mail because they can't afford it. Which I mean, is all according to plan for the GOP given their stances and statements.

tl;dr: Yes, the USPS needs money, that's not at debate. But so do the states! This is the federal government pitting two groups that they're intentionally starving of resources against one another while they're just sitting back running up deficits well beyond what we've seen but somehow in all that can't find the money to help them both out but can for tax cuts for the rich.

States and the USPS should be getting aid from the federal government. Hell, just removing the blatant sabotage of the USPS having the unique requirement to pre-fund pensions 50 years in advance (edit: oh is it 75? whatever it's absurd either way and was only inserted recently to try and kill the postal service) which is the sole cause of their budget issues would help. But the GOP doesn't want to do that because they're genuinely trying to sabotage here.

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