One of the hallmarks of Trumpism is to take from the middle class and poor and give to the one percent. Thus we see that recently Senator Mitchell McConnell said that the budget has to be balanced by cutting Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. Just last week Trump backed the Senator up by agreeing with him about the cuts in our income and medical insurance.
Of course, we all know that the deficit is brought to us by Trump and McConnell’s increased military spending, along with tax cuts for the extra-wealthy.
Another hallmark of Trumpism is slash and burn diplomacy. The idea is to destroy international agreements that help make the world a more orderly and safe place. Then, the Trumpists hope, their amateur negotiators can renegotiate a new agreement which they hope will favor Americans.
The threat to quit the Universal Postal Union combines both slash and burn diplomacy and the taking something from ordinary people.
The Universal Postal Union was formed by countries across the globe more then 150 years ago. It assures that you and I can mail an envelope or package to France, Australia, Mexico, or any of the 192 member countries of the UPU, smoothly and easily. Now-a-days the UPU is part of the United Nations which, of course, Trumpists love to hate.
Donald Trump hates the UN and the UPU so much that he threatened to quit the UPU a few weeks ago. That’s particularly shocking since the U.S. is the country that first called for an international mail treaty. That was 1863.
“Prior to the establishment of the UPU, each country had to prepare a separate postal treaty with other nations if it wished to carry international mail to or from them. In some cases, senders would have to calculate postage for each leg of a journey, and find mail forwarders in a third country if there was no direct delivery. To remove this complexity, the United States called for an International Postal Congress in 1863,” according to Wikipedia.
Thanks to that international Congress, and the treaty that resulted from it, and the skilled diplomatic negotiation over the years, you and I can simply and inexpensively mail something to an address anywhere on earth.
Donald Trump wants to end all of that because he’s mad at the Chinese. He wants to quit the UPU because it gives the Chinese an advantage. Here’s what the President of the UPU said about Trump’s dangerous threat:
“It will have dramatic consequences for American consumers. It will cost them enormously. They will be all alone against all the countries of the world,” Clivaz (the UPU President) told The Associated Press in an October 19th article. “They won’t even be able to send (a package) to a neighboring country. It’s an accord that links everybody.”
Trump wants to take away our ability to mail a letter to Norway because it is cheaper for a Chinese company to mail a package to the U.S. then it is for an American company to mail a package to China. Actually it’s about twice as cheap for the Chinese company then for the American company. The Chinese have the advantage because under the current UPU rules developing countries get a postal break. The UPU still considers China to be a developing country.
The UPU says it is working on renegotiating the unfair Chinese advantage. Thanks to diplomacy, there were adjustments to the rates made in 2012 and more are being worked on right now.
For more then 150 year diplomats have modernized the UPU agreements and at the same time held this amazing pact together. Thanks to them we have a well oiled international postal system that benefits all of us.
But under the Trumpists we are just one tweet away from the destruction of all that.
Tim
Central Minnesota Political
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