Voting vs. eating: Dems should get their priorities straight

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is recalling the House of Representatives because she wants her half of Congress back in D.C. to vote on something very important. 

Great! That must mean they’re finally going to get a bipartisan coronavirus relief bill (not the $3 trillion Democratic wish list the House approved in May) passed with unemployment benefits, help for small businesses and renters, and money for testing!

Right? 

Uh … no, no, no … and, no. 

Yes, Nancy Pelosi wants House members like Arizona’s Greg Stanton, Raul Grijalva and Ruben Gallego back in Washington to vote on something important — but it’s something important to them: Postal Service funding. 

Why is the USPS (the United States Postal Service) more important to the Democrats than the UPSP (the Untold People Sinking in the Pandemic)? 

Well, to hear them tell it, a Postal Service with a suppressed cash flow suppresses voting. 

In this case, the man who brings no joy to Democrats is Postmaster General Robert DeJoy. DeJoy, a Trump appointee (who’s also a big fundraiser for the President), has reduced post office operating hours as well as the number of collection boxes and he’s cut overtime for postal workers. 

Democrats worry those cost-saving measures could cost them the election because mail-in voting favors Democrats — especially true because left-leaning voters are taking coronavirus more seriously than those on the right and are thereby less inclined to leave their homes to vote. 

Even if they aren’t facing snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night, the though of a cost-curtailed USPS struggling to complete their appointed rounds while also trying to deliver on a pandemic-themed, mostly mail-in election has the Dems USPS-ing their pants. 

I believe in fair, well-run elections where everybody’s voice is heard. They are essential to our democracy. 

But much more essential right now to the average American is feeding their family. 

So it’s a pretty bad look for the Democrats to have Nancy Pelosi call the House back from vacation to save their election bacon — when they appeared more than happy to go on that vacation without helping to save the average American’s ability to bring home the bacon. 

And that smells a lot worse than burning a whole pound of the stuff.  

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