Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Gloom Of Night Could Stop Them—Twas The Swamp
It’s a strange time in America when citizens feel they have to defend the United States Post Office against an attack from the President himself.
By David Todd McCarty | Friday, August 21, 2020
About forty protestors lined Route 47, carrying signs and chanting, while passing motorists honked their horns in support and raised their fists in solidarity. They weren’t protesting the Post Office, rather they were rallying support for it.
“The Trump administration is directly attacking and defunding the USPS,” explained Cassandra Gatelein, Co-Chair of Cape May County Indivisible, one of the organizers of the rally. “Our upcoming election will rely on mail in ballots. They aren’t just trying to sabotage the Post Office, they’re trying to sabotage our vote. This is a shameful attempt to disenfranchise voters and steal the election.”
Since assuming the position on June 15, President Donald Trump’s Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, has been the subject of fierce criticism for his stated efforts to reform the Postal Service. Many Democrats have expressed concern that Mr. DeJoy’s real purpose is to dismantle the Post Office, either for personal financial reasons, or for political electoral reasons.
As the New York Times reports, “Mr. DeJoy and his wife, Aldona Wos, have significant investments in companies that do business with or compete with the Postal Service. According to disclosures filed with the Office of Government Ethics, the couple hold between $30.1 million and $75.3 million in such investments, mostly in XPO Logistics, where Mr. DeJoy was a director until 2018.”
“Mr. DeJoy is a major financial supporter of the Republican Party. Before becoming postmaster general, he was a deputy national fund-raising chairman for the G.O.P. He has hosted events and fund-raisers for Republican presidential candidates and presidents since 2006. Since 2016, Mr. DeJoy has donated $1.2 million to President Trump’s campaign coffers and nearly $1.3 million to the Republican Party.”
According to Blue Wave New Jersey, a grassroots organization with connections throughout the state, “Trump is hoping to make his false and self-serving attacks on the ability of the post office to handle mail-in voting a self-fulfilling prophecy. His new Postmaster General, Republican mega-donor Louis DeJoy, is orchestrating a general slowdown in operations, reducing the time that mechanical mail sorting machines operate, cutting overtime for postal workers and reducing delivery standards so that mail is now routinely left behind on workroom floors and loading docks.”
Cape May County Indivisible, a progressive grassroots group of advocates helped to organize the rally today in Rio Grande.
“Protecting our right to vote is crucial to a healthy democracy – unfortunately the Republicans are more concerned with protecting their own power,” said Gatelein. “They have a history of using voter suppression tactics—but attacking the United StatesPost Office—an institution which is seen as a symbol of American pride is a new low—even for them. This why it’s so important that we the people stand up and demand free and fair elections.”
