The setting for the 1997 film entitled “The Postman” is the U.S. after some kind of apocalyptic war. Central authority has broken down and warlords are in charge. Kevin Costner, a drifter, puts on a U.S. Postal uniform and finds that he has given new hope to a number of isolated communities.
The movie is better than the reviews it received, and the message is relevant. The postal service represented connectedness, something larger than the individual. The bad guys knew this, and killed a number of the newly formed postal service workers.
Today, of course, they wouldn’t have to kill anyone. All they need to do is show the new postal service wasn’t making any money. They could then argue for its elimination.
When Ben Franklin formed the postal service in Philadelphia, it was a government service. It provided a function that was not being provided by private businesses. It wasn’t supposed to make money.
We are told that the elimination of Saturday mail service won’t hurt because people communicate by email. Except the old. Except the isolated poor. Except rural folks.
We are told that the elimination of Saturday mail service will save money because 22,000 jobs will be cut. How does that help the slow climb out of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression?
This is another indicator of the decline of what once was a great power. It’s a sad day.
As a 32 year old young American, I have these lofty goals of one day being able to ride a high speed rail train somewhere in the United States. It would be remarkable to have. Not to mention, countries like China have an abundance of it and Uzbekistan has at least some of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I proposed this option to a local friend, there comment was "We can't even keep our Post Offices open".
I hate to beat a dead horse but what if tax rates were higher on the richest 1%. Would we have post offices open on Saturdays and things like high speed rail.