Another low for the new normal

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I Knew I Should Have…

It’s been a long journey to August. Out of an abundance of caution, we have been sheltering in place, wearing fabric masks whenever we leave the confines of our home or yard, shopping at Kroger by ClickList and relying on online shopping for things not readily available with curbside pickup. Life has changed, and I really don’t expect the world of February 2020 to return.

I realized there would be no magic disappearance of the coronavirus with warm weather. It was June when I thought my friends and family might appreciate a bit of cheer. I pulled out my stash of Christmas cards with every intention of ordering up a bunch of cheery stamps and sending early greetings to my annual list of friends, family and church family.

But the languor of self-isolation set in and the cards sit on the side table, unsent so far. Then recently it was clear that there were some issues with timely mail before the new Postmaster General arrived. I credited those problems to the significant number of postal workers testing positive for Covid-19 (at least 60 have died), along with increased demand for services from folks like us for whom the postal service had become even more essential than ever.

Never in my wildest imagination would I have believed this administration, with silent complicity of elected Republicans, would arrange an open assault on the Postal Service during a pandemic. Sure, we have watched the assault and destruction/corruption of DOJ under Barr, EPA under Pruitt and Wheeler, Education under DeVos, HHS, DHS, Interior, Energy, Commerce…

The nomination and appointment of corrupt, inept, corporate or mega-donor shills has become so common as to be “normal”. For over three years the destruction of every agency has been so targeted and unrelenting, we almost expect it.

But the Postal Service? Really? Destroy a critical lifeline for millions of Americans to undermine absentee voting during a pandemic? If the president will destroy the oldest and most beloved agency in our country for his own political purposes, what else will he do? What else with elected Republicans stand by and let him do?

I really should have sent those Christmas cards out when I first thought about it. Maybe I will anyway. Surely, they will arrive by Christmas…

Rev. Elaine Silverstrim

Wilmington

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