If you take the list of enumerated Congressional powers in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution as a priority list, then you may be surprised to learn this:
The Post Office was more important to the Founding Fathers than the Army and the Navy.
Of course, Congress doesn't see it that way, now, since they provide no support to the Postal Service, other than the benefit of Congressional meddling. And the "Constitution Forever" teabaggers tend to ignore that the Postal Service was that important to the Founders.
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3 comments:
What the founders thought doesn't have much to do with anything involving this country except rhetorically. The founders managed to miss most of the big events that got us where we are.
They didn't care much for the concept of a large standing military. But it's entirely possible they'd have taken a jaundiced view of the Post Office if they had the experience of this one.
I'd guess though, they'd have preferred to see the entire country dismantled a la Civil War than to sit still for what we've become in terms of almost everything.
Jules
"The Post Office was more important to the Founding Fathers than the Army and the Navy."
Well D'uh. It tied the country together when a move of more than 25 miles might mean you never saw the person again. It Was Essential. You might be in a war (less then after the country was established), but maintaining the ties that bound were a continuing and crucial issue.
Roads, internet, phones, all that seems trivial now....it wasn't then. You know *why* the Interstates were Eisenhower's creation?
Read this!
http://www.historynet.com/president-dwight-eisenhower-and-americas-interstate-highway-system.htm
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In 1919, following the end of World War I, an Army expedition was organized to traverse the nation from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. The First Transcontinental Motor Convoy (FTMC) left the nation's capital on July 7, following a brief ceremony and the dedication of the 'Zero Milestone' at the Ellipse just south of the White House. Joining the expedition as an observer was a young lieutenant colonel, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
As stated in one official report, those objectives included: 'To service-test the special-purpose vehicles developed for use in the first World War, not all of which were available in time for such use, and to determine by actual experience the possibility and the problems involved in moving an army across the continent, assuming that railroad facilities, bridges, tunnels, etc., had been damaged or destroyed by agents of an Asiatic enemy.'
At its starting point, the massive convoy consisted of 34 heavy cargo trucks, four light delivery trucks, two machine shops, one blacksmith shop, one wrecking truck, two spare-parts stores, two water tanks, one gasoline tank, one searchlight, one caterpillar tractor, four kitchen trailers, eight touring cars, one reconnaissance car, two staff observation cars, five sidecar motorcycles and four motorcycles, all of which were operated and maintained by 258 enlisted men, 15 War Department staff observation officers and 24 expeditionary officers. By the time the expedition reached San Francisco on September 6 — 62 days after setting out, the convoy had traveled 3,251 miles, at an average of 58.1 miles per day and 6.07 miles per hour.
It was truly an unprecedented undertaking in every regard, and although the mission was a success, the numbers were disappointing if not dismal.
The after-action report of Lt. Col. Eisenhower, one of the 15 War Department staff observation officers, noted: 'In many places excellent roads were installed some years ago that have since received no attention whatsoever. Absence of any effort at maintenance has resulted in roads of such rough nature as to be very difficult of negotiating.' Even more vexing, many of what otherwise would have been considered 'good roads' were simply too narrow for military vehicles. Others were too rough, sandy or steep for trucks that in some cases weighed in excess of 11 tons. Eisenhower claimed, 'The train operated so slowly in such places, that in certain instances it was noted that portions of the train did not move for two hours.'
The July 30 entry in the FTMC's daily log, for example, shows it covered 83 miles in 10 hours through Nebraska, not exactly burning up the track but a good clip nonetheless at about 8 miles per hour. Just three days later, however, the convoy became mired in 'gumbo roads,' which slowed the rate of progress to 30 miles in 10 grueling hours — at one point even causing 25 of the expedition's trucks to go skidding into a ditch. 'Two days were lost in [the] western part of this state,' Eisenhower later recorded.
"The Post Office was more important to the Founding Fathers than the Army and the Navy."
Well D'uh. It tied the country together when a move of more than 25 miles might mean you never saw the person again. It Was Essential. You might be in a war (less then after the country was established), but maintaining the ties that bound were a continuing and crucial issue.
Roads, internet, phones, all that seems trivial now....it wasn't then. You know *why* the Interstates were Eisenhower's creation?
Read this!
http://www.historynet.com/president-dwight-eisenhower-and-americas-interstate-highway-system.htm
===============================
In 1919, following the end of World War I, an Army expedition was organized to traverse the nation from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco.
.....
At its starting point, the massive convoy consisted of 34 heavy cargo trucks, four light delivery trucks, two machine shops, one blacksmith shop, one wrecking truck, two spare-parts stores, two water tanks, one gasoline tank, one searchlight, one caterpillar tractor, four kitchen trailers, eight touring cars, one reconnaissance car, two staff observation cars, five sidecar motorcycles and four motorcycles, all of which were operated and maintained by 258 enlisted men, 15 War Department staff observation officers and 24 expeditionary officers. By the time the expedition reached San Francisco on September 6 — 62 days after setting out, the convoy had traveled 3,251 miles, at an average of 58.1 miles per day and 6.07 miles per hour.
It was truly an unprecedented undertaking in every regard, and although the mission was a success, the numbers were disappointing if not dismal.
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read the whole thing.
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