In Oregon and Washington, voting by mail with paper ballots is not a partisan issue. It is just the right thing to do, and we wonder when the rest of the country is going to get out of the dark ages.
I could not have come up with a better argument against a faceless, prone to mischief process to put our lives in the hands of the power hungry. With due deference to JK, offering OR and WA for emulation must be your idea of a sick joke. BTW, any thoughts on a new name for your neighbor to the north? WN (Woke North) is available and allows for only a minor modification.
JK,
I had some hopes for our generation, better educated, more prosperous, relatively unafflicted by wide existential threats, largely free to progress through Maslow's hierarchy, yet so increasingly disappointed with what it has created. I don't know where the next "greatest" will come from or when, but I am doubtful that it will arise here from the ashes currently in the making.
As to Tom's dissatisfaction with the USPS, it is a big system operating under numerous conflicting objectives and mandates. It has fewer monopoly protections than in the past and its comparative advantages beyond the sphere of political influence are minimal. Outside of books and magazines, its impact on golf architecture is nil, and as more people do their reading online, this too will continue to decline.
Maybe Bezos and the new administration can do a JV along the Tesla model and just take over the whole thing. There are enough Amazon vans going through my neighborhood several times a day that carrying first class mail shouldn't add much to the fixed costs. And their drivers run out of their trucks to the door, a far cry from mail carriers in my neighborhood who won't deliver the mail if the mailbox is blocked by a parked car (which is OK with me as much of my mail goes directly into the trash or recycle bin).