I am making a concerted effort to make this “free blog” as
on-topic and applicable to class as possible.
It will be hard, but my grades will thank me. Today's subject is the Political Action Committee, and how they can influence policy beyond elections for their special interest group.
Yesterday I received my first letter from a Political Action Committee, or PAC. I was hired by the United States Postal Service in September of last year, and have recently joined the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association (NRLCA), the union that supports rural letter carriers (I am a rural carrier associate-a substitute carrier). The union supports all rural carriers regardless of whether they are union members. The letter was from the NRLCA special interest group PAC asking me to donate money in order for them to further protect my interests and my job. I am skeptical, because of long-held views that regard PACs as flawed and generally sneaky in getting people to give them money and then not doing exactly as promised. Also, I don’t like the idea of giving money above and beyond my union dues so that the union will do what it was designed to do, that is, look out for my interests as a USPS employee. Unions are supposed to intercede with the employer on the employees behalf, but though the United States Government controls the USPS a PAC is probably necessary in order to influence policy outside of the purvey of the USPS organization itself. Interest group PACs are able to influence government policy by promising/giving campaign contributions, contacting government officials directly or through lobbyists, influencing the public directly through internet/tv/print campaigns, and letter writing (appropriate in this situation). (panaomni.tripod.com)
I now have the added perspective of wanting the help of the NRLCA PAC. I will explain:
Yesterday I received my first letter from a Political Action Committee, or PAC. I was hired by the United States Postal Service in September of last year, and have recently joined the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association (NRLCA), the union that supports rural letter carriers (I am a rural carrier associate-a substitute carrier). The union supports all rural carriers regardless of whether they are union members. The letter was from the NRLCA special interest group PAC asking me to donate money in order for them to further protect my interests and my job. I am skeptical, because of long-held views that regard PACs as flawed and generally sneaky in getting people to give them money and then not doing exactly as promised. Also, I don’t like the idea of giving money above and beyond my union dues so that the union will do what it was designed to do, that is, look out for my interests as a USPS employee. Unions are supposed to intercede with the employer on the employees behalf, but though the United States Government controls the USPS a PAC is probably necessary in order to influence policy outside of the purvey of the USPS organization itself. Interest group PACs are able to influence government policy by promising/giving campaign contributions, contacting government officials directly or through lobbyists, influencing the public directly through internet/tv/print campaigns, and letter writing (appropriate in this situation). (panaomni.tripod.com)
I now have the added perspective of wanting the help of the NRLCA PAC. I will explain:
The United States Postal Service is an independent
government agency which has not been supported financially by the government since
the early 1980s. The last year it made a
profit was in 2006. The government
regulates it, and it is headed by the Postmaster General, who gets paid
slightly less than the president does. Benjamin
Franklin was our first Postmaster General.
(Victorville Post Office website)
The current problem is that the USPS is in financial
trouble, and wants permission to overhaul the organization. It is in trouble due to a lot of things, not
the least of which is that they are the last government agency required to
pre-pay their employee’s pensions! I
just found out from The New York Times website that a bill has passed in the
Senate that allows the USPS to stop so much pre-payment, examine closing post
offices and distribution centers and look into canceling Saturday delivery if
they are still in trouble after two years.
No bailouts for the Post Office, they have to fix themselves.
The big problem for me is still pending votes in the House. The issue is Saturday delivery. I am a substitute carrier, so I work on the
regular carrier’s day off and vacations. If the
carrier only works 5 days a week, and we deliver 6 days a week, I work one day. If she 5 days out of a 5 day work week, I have no
day. Conversely, if we go down to 5-day
delivery, the rest of the mail will have to be delivered some time, and since
the distribution centers run 7 days a week we will have mail stacked up on
Monday. Since the union only allows the
carriers to work a certain number of hours a week without getting overtime, the
routes will have to be cut, new routes made, more subs going regular (becoming
a full-time carrier), and more chance for me to go full time and WIN! You know what I mean.
So there are two sides to the issue, but I don’t think
deleting Saturday delivery is convenient for anyone, and will cut down on the number of
businesses open on Saturdays, which will suck for the economy. I think.
So in conclusion, I believe my union’s PAC is useful, and I hope they
stop the Saturday delivery cut, but I don’t really have any spare cash to give
them, and it’s likely that if I did I would donate it to the animal
shelter. My brain doesn’t really have a
say in my actions most of the time. Thank you for listening to KDADHD 808.9fm, and
have a nice night!
Works Cited
Nixon, Ron. "Senate Passes Plan to Give Postal Service Fiscal Relief." NYTimes.com. The New York Times, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/26/us/politics/senate-passes-bill-to-overhaul-postal-service.html>.
Ratliff, John D. "Interest Groups." Panaomni.tripod.com. Panaomni, 1999. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://panaomni.tripod.com/interest-groups/index.html>.
Victorville Post Office. "History of the United States Post Office." Victorville Post Office. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://www.ceol.com/vvpo/history.html>.
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