Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Privatize the Postal Service

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Article 1, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution states that “[The Congress shall have Power] To establish Post Offices and post Roads.” This is the foundation of the United States Postal Service (USPS), one of the few things our government does with valid Constitutional authority.

The idea behind the Postal Service was to provide a reliable, inexpensive way for the people, businesses, and government of the United States to communicate with one another and ‘grease the wheels’ of our society and economy. In the 1780s when the document was written, there were no telegraphs, telephones, Internets, or Twitters to use for our intercommunication. Mail was it. Needless to say, times have changed.

We don’t necessarily need a Postal Service today—especially not one with a federally enforced monopoly on the transmission of letters. The text of the Constitution does not require the government to operate a Postal Service, it merely gives them the authority to establish one if they choose. It’s time to disband the federal Postal Service by privatizing it and ending its monopoly on letter carriage. It’s time to allow FedEx and UPS to compete directly with, or even purchase, the existing USPS entity and its infrastructure.

John Potter, current Postmaster General, knows that things have to change at USPS. He doesn’t, however, talk about privatization. He defends the existence of the Postal Service, but apparently doesn’t concede that its time as a federally protected monopoly should be coming to an end. There will probably always be a need for mail—especially package delivery, though letter delivery has its increasingly-limited place too. There is not a need, however, for a government-established mail monopoly in the United States anymore. Congress should end the monopoly and privatize the agency with one simple regulation: the USPS and any other business that chooses to engage in private mail delivery across state lines must offer delivery to all residences and businesses in the United States, just like the current Postal Service does.

Moose on the Roof

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Yeah, I know, I haven’t been super great about regular posting this week. It’s the end of the summer, the weather is turning, and . . . well it’s a bit of a slow news week. Between the slow news week, my comparative lack of motivation, and my bit of writers’ block . . . well I just don’t really haven’t had much to write about.

This, too, shall pass.

I did want to take a couple of minutes today to acknowledge my slackerdom and, most importantly, call your attention to the most important news story of the week: The Moose on the Roof.

Enjoy!

A Prelude to the 2010 Midterms

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Every once in a while, I read an article that just makes me want to yell out in frustration—usually when the so-called ‘mainstream media’ or the government discovers something painfully obvious that I and others had been saying all along. This happened to me again yesterday when I read in the Washington Times that former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke lied to Congress and the American people during last year’s bailout bonanza.

Paulson and Bernanke, both appointees of former President George W. Bush (R), were the primary cheerleaders working to convince us that the universe was coming to an end unless the government dumped billions upon billions of your and my money into propping up failed corporations like AIG, Bank of America, General Motors, and more. Lots of us saw this for what it was—an unprecedented and ill-advised power grab by the federal government that would, in reality, do nothing to ‘fix’ the economy. It was an affront to our free market economy and blatantly unconstitutional.

Paulson, of course, left office when Bush did along with most of his other appointees. Bernanke, on the other hand, stayed on (Fed. terms follow their own four-year schedule) and was recently reappointed by President Barack Obama (D). ‘Change’ indeed.

Read more . . .

Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 2009

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In the race for Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Attorney General Bob McDonnell (R) faces off against Virginia Senator Creigh Deeds (D-25th). Governors serve four-year terms, and are limited to one consecutive term (hence, Governor Tim Kaine [D] is ineligible to run for reelection). This race presents a rematch of the 2005 Attorney General race, in which McDonnell narrowly defeated Deeds by the closest margin for a statewide office in Virginia election history.

Following the generally inept leadership of Governor Jim Gilmore (R) from 1997-2001, Virginia changed political course with the election of Governor Mark Warner (D). Warner’s tenure was one of comparative stability and, while I certainly disagreed with many of his policies, he did well enough to merit the Off on a Tangent endorsement when he challenged Gilmore for the U.S. Senate in 2008.

Virginians elected Warner’s natural successor, Governor Tim Kaine (D), to the highest office in the state in 2005. In a rare move for such an important office, I made no endorsement in that race. Kaine and his challenger, Jerry Kilgore (R), each presented nothing but empty rhetoric and half-developed plans to solve Virginia’s toughest problems. Neither were the right person for the job, and Kaine’s leadership over the last four years has not changed my mind. There has been little to no progress on the biggest issues.

Read more . . .

Corrrection Regarding John Catoe of WMATA

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In my brief piece last week calling for accountability at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA, ‘Metro’) Board of Directors, I stated that Metro General Manager John Catoe came to Washington from the San Francisco BART system. This statement was incorrect. Catoe actually came to WMATA from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. I apologize for this error. Per Off on a Tangent policy, I have corrected the original piece with an annotation.

I wanted to call attention to this with its own post for two reasons:

First, I feel bad about it. I try to make sure everything I post is accurate and I should have more carefully checked my facts about Catoe before publishing them. Mea culpa. The remainder of that post, however, is accurate and I stand by its core thesis unequivocally. The Metro Board and Catoe appear woefully out-of-touch with riders and the general public, and they must be held accountable for their mistakes.

Second, I want to thank Brett Tyler, Director of the Office of Customer Service for the Metro Board of Directors. On the same day I published my piece here, I sent an email to the Metro Board expressing these same sentiments to them directly. Tyler responded this morning with an actual message (not a form letter!) expressing the Board’s point of view. He also politely pointed out that my statement about Catoe’s work history was incorrect. I really appreciate that Tyler took the time to write a real response to my message.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.