Despite overwhelming public support for the creation of a public option for delivering mail, congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats have joined the private deliverers to decry the creation of the "United States Postal Service."
For years, those who couldn't afford the high delivery rates for letters and packages by the private delivery industry -- with the American market controlled by a virtual oligopoly of two major international corporations -- would have to make tough choices that others didn't have to make. Do I pay the $20 of delivery charges for my bills this week, or do I use that money to pay for baby formula? Do I spend a few hundred dollars to ship gifts to my relatives, or do I use that money to pay for my child's school supplies? And as delivery costs increase every year, more and more Americans are joining the ranks of the undelivered.
President Obama has called for a new public option for mail to bring price competition to the market while allowing the undelivered to send their letters and packages at set rates. However, industry representatives quickly declared that they'd never be able to compete with the USPS:
"With these [public mail] subsidies called 'stamps', all Americans will leave our company in droves," said Federal Expresss CEO Fredrick Smith. "There is no way we can provide a service that can compete, and the thousands of Americans we employee will simply lose their jobs."
Scott Davis, CEO of United Parcel Service, echoed these comments. "We simply cannot imagine a path to profitability if the United States government gets into the delivery business."
Capital Hill also rushed to the defense of the private delivery industry, blasting the proposal. For example, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) says that he will pull out all the stops to defend the Memphis-based Federal Express's employees: "I don't care who can and can't afford mail-rates. Federalizing the mail industry will out-compete and devestate a critical American job engine."
Others in Congress point to the fear of what they allege will be a sprawling government bureaucracy. Here's Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Mike Ross (D-AK) on the floor of the House, with the typical scare tactics of recent weeks:
ROSS: I just don't think the federal government will do a good job delivering the mail. Just look all around the world, government delivery doesn't work. Just look over the border - Canadians have to wait in long lines for those stamp things and wait days and days for their letters to get delivered....
And do we want some new agency to get involved in the confidential relationship of the sender and the sendee? You know, I'm completely open to the need to lower delivery rates to make the mail more accessible to the millions of Americans who are now shut out of it, but I don't think a new government behemoth is the way to go.
Of course, it's nakedly political for some, as Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said recently to his hometown paper:
"This will be a huge political win for the GOP if we can shut down Obama's socialized mail delivery plan. We have to go for the kill, and make this his Stalingrad.
Sadly, these arguments are gaining a bit of traction, at least on the cable news loop. The chattering class is starting to question the merits of public mail, and the debate is turning to whether Obama has the political capital to make such a fundamental change to the mail industry.
It remains to be seen whether this assault on reason will start to sway public opinion, but we should all be picking up the phone, writing LTEs, and talking to everyone we know about the importance of a public option for mail delivery. Swat down the right-wing talking point and scare tactics about "socialized mail delivery" any chance you get. We're as close as we've ever been, but we can't let up now.