Words and innuendo from the highest office in the land

(Thanks to guest commentator Andy Garcia for these observations on free speech -- its value, and its potential for both good and bad outcomes.)

For those of us who have sat in locker rooms and listened to a coach’s emotional call to action or have heard patriotic words from commanding officers calling us to duty or who have read a poem and been touched to the bone, we know the power of words.  They are instruments that can appeal to our intellect and our emotions with the same facility. They can stir our passions for good or evil.  

Words spoken in a crowd can cause rational and compassionate citizens to forsake their reason and stampede for the door, trampling everything and anybody standing in their way.  Words can touch our hearts and make us risk our very lives for the sake of another’s. When we hear words dripping with anger and hatred, bigotry and self righteous emotion, we know these words can cause damage. We know from our common sense and personal experience that words intended to stir anger and resentment can trigger action that is both violent and reprehensible.  

We as a country took part in the most devastating war the world has ever known, costing an estimated 60 million lives worldwide, because of  the hateful words spoken by a monster who was able to convince a nation that some of its citizens were superior to others and that some among them were not fit to live.  We have seen the pictures.    

We live in a country that values free speech.  This principle is codified in our Constitution and has been defended again and again in our courts and on battlefields around the world.  But free speech comes at a cost.  We allow the skinheads and the bigots with their tattooed swastikas to speak their hatred; allow the fear mongers and the extremists to broadcast their lies and conspiracy theories.  We do this even though we know it may cause harm and diminish our national civility.  It is the price of freedom and we are willing to pay it because we know the alternative is worse.  

But the power of words cannot be ignored and the right of extremists to spread bitterness and intolerance does not mean that the rest of us must sit silent against them, even when their appeal to hatred and call for violence is by innuendo and insinuation, even when it comes from the highest office in the land. 

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About the United States Postal Service and Woodburn, Iowa

("That a line of posts be appointed under the direction of the Postmaster general, from Falmouth in New England to Savannah in Georgia, with as many cross posts as he shall think fit."  -- Second Continental Congress, July 26, 1775.

 

Guest author Guy Heston has written the following about the value of the United States Postal Service.)

My father was born and grew up in Woodburn, Iowa, joined the Navy at 17, served in Korea, and eventually settled in California, where I grew up. From time to time our family would pile into the car and take a road trip to Iowa, which might explain why to this day I love road trips and budget motels.

Woodburn is a classic small Midwestern town, beautifully nestled among rolling hills roughly one mile off the state highway. It got its start as a railroad town and its peak population in the early 1900’s was 400 or so. There are towns like this all across America.

There was a grocery store, gas station, meat locker, country school, lumber yard, tavern, telephone exchange, three churches, and a United States Post Office. All of the basic things you need to keep a small town and nearby farms up and running.

The last time I went to Woodburn was two years ago on an Iowa road trip. The grocery store, gas station, meat locker, school and lumber yard were gone. The Disciples of Christ church was still serving its congregants and had helped to restore the closed Catholic church to save the building for posterity. The Methodist church had long ago fallen in a fire. The population had dropped to less than 200. As far as I could see there were two active businesses, the tavern and the post office. If you needed food it was an 11-mile drive to the Hy-Vee grocery store in Osceola.

And there it was on Sigler St., the main street of Woodburn—the United States Postal Service’s small but neatly maintained building, only open two hours a day, but connecting each and every resident of Woodburn and the many nearby farms to the USA and the world, fulfilling the mission of the USPS.

Putting aside the controversy over mail-in ballots, President Trump seems to think this is yet another case where a mega-rich private sector person (who also happens to be a mega-donor to the Trump campaign) can come in and run a government agency more efficiently from day one. So we have Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in charge of our mail.

In my more than 30 years in public service I was often the recipient of this particular arrow: You bureaucrats should be fired and the private sector can do this at half the price. It was always from a person who was angry that I would not or could not accommodate their demand.

We are already seeing the results when a postmaster general with no applicable experience marches in and tries to run a large government agency, firing people left and right and issuing orders without even taking the time to get the lay of the land and ask people with experience and knowledge about what to do and how to do it.  He could have easily learned things from someone who has actually worked for the post office and understands how it works.

Earlier this week, Congress was in the mood to ask questions about what the postmaster general has been up to, and why, according to the USPS’s own reporting, on-time mail delivery is declining.

As The Washington Post reported, “Things got plenty heated during Monday’s hearing. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) mentioned the many members of his family who had worked for the Postal Service and asked, ‘After 240 years of patriotic service delivering the mail, how can one person screw this up in just a few weeks? Now I understand you bring private sector expertise,’ Lynch continued. ‘I guess we couldn’t find a government worker who could screw it up this fast.’”

Admittedly, the Congressional hearing was largely political theatre, but it was amusing when Rep. Katie Porter (D-Ca.) asked Postmaster General DeJoy the price of mailing a postcard,. He did not know, bringing back memories of George H. W. Bush’s 1992 debate with Bill Clinton when President Bush admitted he did not know the price of a gallon of milk. And it became clear that while Mr. DeJoy may be a multi-millionaire private sector expert on supply chains, he knows precious little about moving the mail.

So I pose this question: what do we want from the United States Postal Service? Do we want it to run as a private sector business, in which case I can assure you the Woodburn post office would be promptly closed, as would hundreds of others across our great nation. Or do we want it to run as an essential public service, helping to keep America connected? Yes, most of us send mail electronically these days, but we depend on the USPS to deliver our packages, prescriptions, greeting cards and so forth. I vote for the USPS as an essential public service that should be properly funded. Room for more efficiency, sure, but still a government agency run for the good of the nation.

A final note about Woodburn. It is still a lovely town, and a cafe has recently opened. If you have never experienced small town America, now (please wear your mask) would be a great time for a road trip. Woodburn residents are right friendly, even if they don’t know you. And please keep an eye out for the local post office. It’s right there on Sigler St. You can’t miss it.