The Postal Service Is a Civic Institution, Not a Business
Yet the critiques and suggestions offered as solutions for what ails the Postal Service see the problem only in terms of commercial and financial concerns.
The U.S. Senate is debating proposals to reform the U.S. Postal Service
and change the way the USPS does business in order to make it more
profitable. Among other proposals are cutting Saturday delivery, closing half of its processing centers, shutting down dozens of local post offices and laying off thousands of workers.
These reductions in delivery services are ill-advised and will not address the fundamental problem: Congress assumes that this vital government service will somehow become profitable.
In the midst of a long decline in the volume of mail, the Postal Service -- as a public institution with universal service throughout the United States -- has a difficult road ahead.
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...Shortly after Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the
Continental Congress took up a post office as one of the earliest
institutions of national
reach -- making the U.S. Post Office older than the Navy, the
Marines, and the Declaration of Independence.
...The delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 saw the operation of information channels as a core function of government: the power "to establish post offices and post roads" is one of the explicitly named grants included among the enumerated powers of Congress.
...Understanding the core mission of the Post Office -- as part of a communications infrastructure for political debate and civic participation -- should lead us to reframe the questions we ask about the future of the USPS. Making changes to the USPS's structure are clearly necessary in order to ensure its ability to meet its obligations. But the historical context should lead us to ask much larger questions about government's role in protecting the free circulation of information.
In the 18th century, the government committed itself to guaranteeing the free flow of information throughout the nation as part of a project to ensure mass participation in civic life, linking the Post Office with the protection of a free press. The decline in mail volume points to a certain inevitability about the commercial success of the USPS. But more broadly we must carefully consider the value of publicly owned, freely available channels of communication. Should the Post Office cease to exist, we will lose the last public guarantor of free communication in the United States. "
theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/the-postal-service-is-a-civic-institution-not-a-business/256306/
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Alexis Madrigal
The U.S. Senate is debating proposals to reform the U.S. Postal Service
and change the way the USPS does business in order to make it more
profitable. Among other proposals are cutting Saturday delivery, closing half of its processing centers, shutting down dozens of local post offices and laying off thousands of workers.
These reductions in delivery services are ill-advised and will not address the fundamental problem: Congress assumes that this vital government service will somehow become profitable.
In the midst of a long decline in the volume of mail, the Postal Service -- as a public institution with universal service throughout the United States -- has a difficult road ahead.
_________________________________________________________________________________
"Yet the
critiques and suggestions offered as solutions for what ails the Postal
Service see the
problem only in terms of commercial and financial concerns. The
circumstances of the Post Office's founding suggest a far broader and
more important
mission: guaranteeing the sanctity of civic participation and
political debate.
...The delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 saw the operation of information channels as a core function of government: the power "to establish post offices and post roads" is one of the explicitly named grants included among the enumerated powers of Congress.
...Understanding the core mission of the Post Office -- as part of a communications infrastructure for political debate and civic participation -- should lead us to reframe the questions we ask about the future of the USPS. Making changes to the USPS's structure are clearly necessary in order to ensure its ability to meet its obligations. But the historical context should lead us to ask much larger questions about government's role in protecting the free circulation of information. In the 18th century, the government committed itself to guaranteeing the free flow of information throughout the nation as part of a project to ensure mass participation in civic life, linking the Post Office with the protection of a free press. The decline in mail volume points to a certain inevitability about the commercial success of the USPS. But more broadly we must carefully consider the value of publicly owned, freely available channels of communication. Should the Post Office cease to exist, we will lose the last public guarantor of free communication in the United States. "
theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/04/the-postal-service-is-a-civic-institution-not-a-business/256306/
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