Letters

Has Congressman Lee Zeldin been acting in your best interests? His position on the U.S. Postal Service would lead one to answer in the negative.

The U.S. Postal Service was considered so vital to our national interests that the Founding Fathers authorized its creation in the Constitution. Until recently, the Postal Service has been humming along, delivering letters and packages to every city and rural town in America. But it has been going through some financial difficulties lately due in large part to the reduction of first class mail in the era of email. However, this loss has been countered to a degree by an increase in the number of packages it now handles because of the rise of online retailers.

Republicans want to privatize the post office. This would be a huge gift to their corporate donors. They use the fact that the post office has been running in the red to bolster their arguments for privatization. But they fail to recognize that the post office is a government service and, as such, has no obligation to make money. We do not require the military, our schools, or our police to make money. Why should the Postal Service be any different?

The Republican attack on the Postal Service has been taken to new heights by the Trump administration, which installed a campaign donor as postmaster general. His one mission seems to be to make it impossible for the post office to handle the millions of vote-by-mail ballots expected to be cast in the November elections. He has removed thousands of mailboxes, eliminated overtime and dismantled high-speed mail sorting machines.

These moves, all hailed as cost-cutting efficiencies, have raised concerns about mail-in voting. Even more concerning, they have led to long delays in mail deliveries. Birthday cards are arriving late, online purchases are being held up, and vital medications are not getting to patients when needed. This problem is especially troubling for veterans who receive their medicines from the Veterans Administration via the mail.

So, where does Congressman Zeldin come into this? The House of Representatives this week passed legislation to authorize $25 billion in funding for the post office. Some of this money would help the post office better handle packages. Twenty-six Republicans, including Long Island’s Peter King, crossed the aisle to vote for this bill.

But not Mr. Zeldin.

I called our congressman’s office recently to urge him to support the post office. I was assured by an aide that he was fully on board. Obviously, she was misinformed.

So, from Mr. Zeldin, it’s good luck, folks, with those Amazon orders. And good luck, veterans, with your meds.

John Neely

Westhampton