Political attacks on the US Postal Service threaten more than just the mail
Democracy, equality, and opportunity are at risk.
Most of us take the US Postal Service for granted. That there is a post office in nearly every little town in the United States, that we can send a letter from anywhere to anywhere for the price of a stamp, that an effective postal system contains some natural supports for democracy—we rarely think about these things.
Yet the postal service is a startling force for democracy, equality, and national unity. It costs taxpayers nothing—the postal service has been self-funded since 1971—yet it connects every person in the United States with every other person, no matter how small or how far-flung their communities. For the same affordable price, every person gets the same service. Meanwhile, the postal service contributes more than half a million high-quality jobs to the economy.
Today the postal service is threatened. The president has called it “a joke.” While Congress approved a relief package for the postal service during the pandemic, the administration has held up this relief—and the postal service has warned that it will run out of operating funds by the end of September. A 2006 law requires the postal service to pre-fund 75 years worth of retiree health benefits over the course of ten years—a cost of approximately $110 billion. It is the only federal agency required to do so. Since then, those opposed to the postal service have often used the prospect of a default on these future costs as part of their argument for dismantling it.
