No Stamps For Oil
By Bob Parks (04/09/07)
Last week, I sent the following to our local Letter to the Editor... .
WAY OUT OF LINE
Editor, Daily News
"I was in the Post Office Monday and a customer was inquiring to one of the clerks as to why the postal rates were going up again and so soon. After a couple of brief explanations, the clerk added that President Bush 'raised the rates to pay for his little war.'
"Because he is a federal employee, he was way out of line espousing political opinion during his "on-the-clock" duties. Political propagandizing at a federal facility, I believe, is against code.
"Personally, I could care less if the man decides to offer his political views on federal time as long as he's giving the public accurate information.
"In this instance, he was not.
"The reason for rate increases is because people are using on-line bill pay more and more, UPS and FedEx are further encroaching on the once exclusive realm of the USPS, and the unions have established wages that are not commiserate with the quality of service. So, because people are using better quality services from the private sector for less money, and postal employees have a union that always demands more in wages regardless of product quality, our rates go up.
"The Postal Service's Board of Governors raise rates to keep the USPS solvent. The President of the United States is not involved in the process.
"I just thought a clarification was in order.
Bob Parks"
After the letter was published, the following anonymous response was given….
"Dear Editor:
"I don't know Mr. Parks. If he walked by me, I still wouldn't know him. His letter to the editor on April 4, 2007 deserves a response.
"I say, pick your battles, Mr. Parks. It's obvious you are a Republican who hates unions, but the facts are the Democrats do far more for us working people and, if we never had unions, some of the real productive workers would still be working for peanuts."
The point of my letter was to address the misinformation issued by a postal clerk to a customer. The anonymous writer did not address that issue.
Instead the responder claimed to not know me but probably assumed that because I defended the President, I must be a Republican. Even though there's gotta be a few Democrats who understand the difference between a partisan falsehood and a comment on why postal rates go up, now that I am the newly elected Vice President of the Massachusetts Republican Assembly, a further response on my part is in order.
Addressing the economic situation in my area, I ran for State Representative last year, not on a conservative platform, but solely on economic development. I first sought to have my district of six towns designated an Empowerment Zone that would have made the present business climate more friendly and would lure more businesses to our area.
I also pledged to personally seek out businesses and individuals that would donate private monies to build two badly needed high schools in our area. My reasoning was that the private sector almost always builds on time and under budget, and no public funds would be used that could possibly raise taxes.
I was also hoping such an invigorated business climate would inspire our young people to achieve in school in order to get a good job later in our community. That would enable young people to buy homes in our area, and those businesses would in turn contribute to local vendors such as stores and restaurants. Such a vicious cycle….
Despite reading the many letters to the editor and hearing the gripes at local coffee shops about the lack of meaningful jobs in our area and the lengthy commutes needed to keep those jobs, the voters opted to re-elect an incumbent Democrat that has done almost nothing to help the local economy.
I talked to many local business owners who loved the ideas of the easing of taxes and regulations. I'm sure these same business owners would also love the idea of some union swooping in and forcing that business owner to pay his or her employees a wage higher than the job demanded. Of course a portion would go to that union, and a portion of that money would go to the Democrat Party.
Don't get me wrong, I don't believe all unions are bad, but as a Republican I don't believe a person goes into business to be an "employer" so he or she can give employees all the money and benefits they want. Most people go into business in order to make money and provide an air of independence for their family. The typical Democrat believes a business is there primarily to serve employees at the expense of the bottom line.
Employees should be paid what they're worth to their employer. If the employee doesn't like that wage, they are free to go somewhere else and take the chance that their services are worth more. To force an employer to pay a wage higher than the job is worth is one stop short of communism.
Democrats have done virtually nothing to raise the wages of the poor aside from raising the minimum wage. I must admit I'd be for a minimum wage increase if, and only if, that entire increase went to the worker. As usual, that increase is taxed, thus the minimum wage increase is a tax on the poor, which incidentally, is exactly as Democrats want it.
So the responder avoided the lie and Bush bash the postal worker told a customer and only saw my response as an attack on unions which he (or she) assume I "hate."
Maybe if people could receive pay raises based on merit, our kids would be getting a better education as schools would be rewarding the good teachers and jettisoning the dead weight, and a postal worker wouldn't feel safe enough to lie to a customer and know there would be no serious repercussions.
I guess we can thank unions for that.
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