I've been worrying a lot about the United States Postal Service. This week we've seen sorting machines removed from post offices; post boxes removed from Democratic-leaning areas of Republican-run states; and the President of the United States openly admit he wants to defund the service in order to put postal voting in jeopardy. All this in the middle of a pandemic, when the Democratic base is more likely to be worried (for very good reasons) about going to a polling place to vote.

I had a conversation the other day with a conservative who openly told me that democracy needed to be replaced. I don't know how many conversations like this are happening behind the scenes, away from other peoples' eyes, but I found it alarming to the core. It's not just that democracy is the declared defining value of this country, although it is; it's that we're so far past being able to find any kind of consensus that the conversation is turning away from it. The President himself isn't particularly subtle about his predilections. I have no doubt that there is a solid contingent of conservatives who would prefer to do away with democracy itself than allow Trump to be a one-term President, and I'm certain that Trump is among their number.

Perhaps - hopefully - this conversation was an outlier. The fact remains that our primary means for voting this November is being dismantled with very little outcry. The President's demonstrably false claims about mail voter fraud have been largely unchallenged. And in a year that saw unmarked federal officers under illegally-appointed leadership wreak unchecked havoc on civil rights protests, not to mention the deadly mishandling of the nation's Covid-19 outbreak, it's more important that citizens have their votes counted than ever.

What can we do?

First, if you're a citizen, you need to make sure you're registered to vote. Even if you think you are, it's worth checking, and it's worth doing the same for your loved ones.

Second, call your representative. Let them know that saving the post office is a priority for you. The American Postal Workers Union has a great resource.

Third, and most importantly: vote. Vote your conscience, vote your ideals, but preferably, vote out this anti-democratic, fascist administration.

Fourth, be public about where you stand. Declare what you stand for. This year is not a good time for silence.

For the record, here's what I stand for:

I stand for socialized healthcare, free education, radical criminal justice reform, defunding the police, establishing a strong social safety net, bringing mass shootings to an end, solving the climate crisis, a democratic foreign policy, and a global, cosmopolitan, educated society where anyone can live well regardless of their background, ethnicity, orientation, or religion. A world where poverty is not a death sentence and everyone has the potential to do well - but nobody does badly. An end to the exploitation of the super-poor, and therefore the existence of the super-rich.

I stand for equal rights and opportunities for all, a guiding light based on compassion rather than capitalism, and an understanding that America is just one country on a very big planet.

I stand against concentration camps, border walls, unmarked federal forces curtailing the freedom to protest, theocracy,  police brutality, American exceptionalism, traditional gender roles and "traditional values", corruption, racism, homophobia, sexism, capital punishment, privatized infrastructure, mass incarceration, and anti-intellectualism. The garbage culture of the current administration.

We're not going to get to where we need to be overnight. But of the choices available to us, only one will get us closer.

It's past time to turn around and start heading in the right direction.

I believe we can get there. I really do.

But we've got to work for it.

Photo by Tiffany Tertipes on Unsplash