Part One:
We speak with Linda Feldmann, Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the Christian Science Monitor, about her article: “Shaky COVID response laid bare a decades-long crisis in government.” A highly politicized system that encourages short-term thinking has hindered the government’s pandemic response – as have outmoded technology, overlapping mandates, and a steep decline in public trust. This crisis in government began long before Pres. Trump was elected.
The Reagan administration demonized the government as a part of the problem and not of the solution. They tried to starve the government to death. Reagan pushed the Republican Party so far to the right that the Democrats moved right also, in its effort to win back votes.
Bill Clinton was elected as a so-called “New Democrat.” Instead of trying to kill the federal government, he advocated making the government smaller and more efficient, utilizing modern technology. The administration spoke of eliminating 300,000 government jobs. They kept the clerks and line-level employees who performed the on-the-ground functions of government (like making sure people’s social security checks went out). At the same time, Clinton hollowed out the middle level workers.
But did this strategy really make the federal government more efficient (or even leaner)? After all, the administration proceeded to contract out a lot of its work. What was the result, once we’ve added up all the employees of the federal contractors and subcontractors – who technically were not on the government payroll, but whose wages were, in fact, being paid with taxpayer money? The total number of employees performing federal government work may not have been reduced at all. Nor is it clear whether the government’s decision to contract-out actually got the job done any more efficiently.
As for the decline in the public’s trust of government, doesn’t it make sense that people would be losing trust? Is the lack of trust the problem? Or is it the fact that people are right to lose trust in a government that is increasingly dysfunctional, and chaotic, more and more prone to partisan bickering, underfunding and undermining the mission of government agencies, and simply unsuccessful in improving the lives of the American people?
Part Two:
We speak with Ryan McCarthy, a reporter for ProPublica, about how the US Postal Service is steadily getting worse. This decline raises the question whether the Postal Service can handle a nationwide mail-in election, which may be the only way to allow everyone to exercise their sacred right to vote without risking their health or even their life.
Postal delays and mistakes have marred primary voting on numerous occasions. After years of budget cuts and plant closures in USPS, mail delivery has slowed so much that ballot deadlines in many states are no longer realistic. So how can we get our country ready to hold a presidential election in less than five months, even in the event that COVID-19 makes it unsafe for many people to vote in-person at polling places?
We discuss one possible solution, which has been used by some of the states that already rely on vote-by-mail for most of their elections: We could use the public’s familiarity (and comfort) with the Postal Service’s mailboxes – and familiarity with their locations – the State voting officials can erect a second box for voters to deposit their ballots before the polls close. (The second boxes could be specially marked, perhaps painted a different color, so people can tell which box is for mail and which is for votes. The public has previously gained experience with dual deposit boxes when the USPS had a specially-marked set of mailboxes for ExpressMail.)
This way, our elections would not be hampered by delays or mistakes if ballots were sent through regular USPS mail. The entire voting transaction would take place between the voters and the state voting officials (SoS, ballot clerks, etc.) We would not have to rely on any third-party middle-person USPS management and employees) to ensure that voters can fully participate in elections without risking their health. (It’s the state’s duty, not USPS’s.)
Voting by mail doesn’t require a lot of technology or extra learning for elderly voters (e.g.). Just erect a set of special mail dropoff boxes, right next to the regular USPS mailboxes. We all know where and how to drop our mail into the regular mailboxes. All we need to do at election time is to drop our absentee ballot in a different colored box located right next to the regular mailbox. And, in fact, this kind of second mailbox has been used by many of the states that have been relying on vote-by-mail for years.
