As I write this on Friday there are rumors in Washington that the short reign of Louis DeJoy as Post Master General will be coming to an end fairly soon. He has been a disaster in this role. Apparently he saw his role as the person who would come in and destroy the USPS and then sell the parts off to corporations for pennies on the dollar.

His main contribution to America was to cause disruption in the election process by having machinery purposely destroyed and by having procedural slow downs meant to affect the election in the favor of Republicans. Never has any Post Master nor as far as I know any governmental department leader done so much damage on purpose.

His job is in the hands of the USPS Board of Governors. The USPS board of Governors appears to be ready for a major change as the terms of a Trump loyal Democratic member and a a Republican member are about to come to and end.

Hopefully we can expect Biden to appoint members to the Board of Governors who will be less concerned about politics and more concerned about customer service. The Postal Service has a long and proud history which has been undermined by DeJoy.

The process for replacing members of the Board of Governors is that the President nominates Board members and the Senate confirms. I would suspect that Mitch McConnell will do all he can to slow walk this process. He and the Republican Party will see a damaged USPS as an election plus for them heading into the mid-term elections next year.

Once the Board is filled they can go about the business of firing DeJoy and replacing him. As noted in the previous paragraph it will probably become yet another of the Republican strategy to undermine the government and blaming it on Democrats.

After DeJoy is removed, let us hope the Justice Department does the right thing and investigates DeJoy for the sabotage of the USPS. With millions of dollars of equipment destroyed and business practices designed to undermine their ability to do their job someone should be accountable. Sending DeJoy to jail would send a message that saboteurs will be accountable.

Along with removing and investigating DeJoy, Congress needs to fix the laws that forced the USPS to fund retirement and  health benefits 75 years in the future. No other business is under such rules. These rules were enacted at a time when the USPS was investigating changing their vehicle fleet to all electric vehicles. 

By forcing the USPS to fund these benefits, the USPS had no more money for such improvements. This plunged the USPS from a profitable organization to an organization that now runs annual debts. This had the added benefit (to Republicans) of making the most unionized workforce in the country in jeopardy of their company going under.

As we look forward to the year’s end and the coming of new hope in the new year, let us hope that the USPS once again becomes the business it is supposed to be. Let us hope DeJoy is fired, and charges are brought for the sabotage he committed. Let us also hope Congress repeals the laws passed to handicap the USPS in 2006.

Let us also hope the USPS can go back to its role of delivering mail and no longer be used as a weapon of Republicans. American lives depend on it.