tad-danger-angelfoot asked: First of all, thanks for answering my questions. But you don’t think the polarization is facilitating a more combative society—one that is gaining to potential to precipitate civil inter-party violence? Also, about Obama Failure #4, my dad works for the Post Office, and I can’t really fathom how Obama has anything to do with it. People are sending less letters, because of the computer. Our paradigm has shifted, and there’s becoming less of a need for a government-run delivery service. Wouldn’t you, as a libertarian, support a privatization of the mailing system and a subsequent reduction in government spending?
Civil inter-party violence? As in Democrats and Republicans settling their differences with guns and knives in the streets? That doesn’t strike me as very likely, to be frank. Our country has many faults, as do people in both major parties/schools of thought, but the idea of working out our troubles through electoral and legislative means is pretty well ingrained in the national mindset. We may eventually get to that point, perhaps, but I think it will take much more than simple polarization to reach it. Indeed — and correct me if I’m wrong here — most of the political violence in American history has been government on citizen (jailing of suffragettes, for instance) or government on government (the Civil War), not citizen on citizen.
As for the post office, it’s an “independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States” [emphasis mine]. This means that although it’s not as entirely under the president’s control as, say, the military, he’s got significant authority in this matter. So although you’re quite right that there’s been a paradigm shift which is causing many of the postal service’s problems, neither this president nor the previous one has done much to help it — despite it being within their branch of government.
Of course, I’d argue that any attempts by the president to fix the postal service would probably go pretty poorly anyway. That’s why your last suggestion — privatization — would be so awesome. But Obama’s not pushing in that direction at all (despite that incredibly ill-considered quote which demonstrated clearly that he knows how desperately it needs help). So again, I’d say he has something to do with it…but yes, like you said, it would be better if he didn’t.
