On Actually Voting in Illnois

I grew up in Wisconsin, where it is very easy to vote. You show up at the polls with some proof of your address, and you vote. Then I moved to Minnesota, where it was much the same.

Now I live in Illinois. It's harder to vote here. You have to register in advance. And, as my wife found out today, your registration can be rendered "inactive" by some bureaucrat without notice. If you show up to the local polling place with this "inactive" registration, you will be turned away. [BUT SEE UPDATE.]

Here's the story, set forth in emails between me and the Cook County clerk's office.

The US Postal Service is a dinosaur.

Is it on the verge of extinction?

Surely not.  But it is on the brink of bankruptcy, as described in this must-read article.  The article contains several almost unbelievable passages.  Here's one example:

Joanne Veto, a USPS spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the USPS had hired outside consultants who examined some of these digital mail offerings [offered by other countries] and advised the agency not to pursue them: "While foreign posts did make money by diversifying their products, it took as many as 20 years before a profit was realized. In the short term, there was limited or no profit. We do not have 20 years."

So, let me get this straight:  Other countries started doing this twenty years ago??  And our excuse for not starting it now is "it will take too long"?

Good grief.

The future of the USPS