Going Non-Postal.

If the tea party insists on downsizing the federal government they should start with the Postal Service. It is easily the most useless, not to mention annoying, service of that government. Ninety-five percent of my snail mail is junk. It wastes paper and the fuel to deliver it. It piles up on my desk until I need the space, then it goes directly into my recycling bin. If I weren't so lazy that is the first place it would go. Unopened.

I am sure that some of the charitable organizations sending me this mail do good work. But they don't need to waste the money I give them by asking for a new donation every month. I'm an annual giver. When they keep wasting my money with monthly pleas I cross them off my list. There always seem to be replacements. Let them deluge me with email like everyone else. Save a forest!

Next the tea party should insist on removing the tax deduction for charitable giving. I am not the one being charitable when I declare deductions for those gifts. I am giving away the government's tax money. The government needs that money for its charitable work, namely its services to unemployed and impoverished citizens. And what happens to the separation of church and state when my tax savings from deductions end up in a donation to my church? And how are my gifts to my church charitable when they are being used to pay the pastor, the mortgage and the heating bill? The whole deduction business is a ripoff of our government's right to levy necessary taxes. I am certain our Representatives recognize that right. It pays their salaries.

If the tea party sees a need for something to replace the Postal Service for the five percent of my mail that really needs to be delivered, I recommend that they privatize the task. I'm sure they can handle that.