This past Sunday, Grammy nominated bluegrass musician Joe Troop joined protesters outside Postmaster General Louis Dejoy's Greensboro, NC. home with his banjo and played his song titled "A Plea to the US Government to Fully Fund the Postal Service."
Video of the event was captured on Twitter and quickly racked up almost 20,000 views.
The United States Postal Service is one of the government’s oldest and most reliable entities - and that’s especially true in rural America. This summer, RuralOrganizing.org launched a campaign that has generated over 427,000 signatures calling for action to save the Postal Service, nearly 50,000 petition signatures demanding an investigation into the Trump slowdown at USPS, and 30,000 letters to members of the Senate. "A Plea to the US Government to Fully Fund the Postal Service,” written by Joe Troop, was commissioned by RuralOrganizing.org as part of this campaign.
The following is a statement from Joe Troop:
I wrote this song in April and now, four months later, we’re still waiting on the Senate to take action.
Staging a protest in front of the most exclusive country club, outside Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Greensboro home, in defense of the Postal Service is exactly what we should be doing right now. The richest people in our country are trying to usurp our Democracy.
Funding the United States Postal Service is not a red or blue issue. It is an American issue. But the postal service has been made a pawn in a political parade. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we do need to come together around certain issues and the post office is one of them.
The following is a statement from Matt Hildreth, Executive Director of RuralOrganizing.org.
The Postal Service has long been a lifeline for rural communities because it delivers to the most rural and remote parts of the country, often on behalf of the private delivery companies who don’t want to risk their profit margins by providing service to everyone.
Every member of Congress, but especially those representing rural states and districts, should be demanding full funding for the post office—especially in light of this year’s election. But instead, we’re going to see which of those members put their loyalty to Trump ahead of their constituents— again.
Even before the pandemic, the rural health system was already in trouble. Now, Trump is threatening another one of rural America’s most reliable lifelines.
The outpouring of support for the RuralOrganizing.org campaign to save the Postal Service sends a clear message: the Senate must act now.
The following are the lyrics to Joe Troop’s song titled, “A Plea to the US Government to Fully Fund the Postal Service”
I’m waiting by the mailbox, they say a check is coming soon
1200 bucks to ease the pain and pay a bill or two
But no more aid will come my way, unless I take a stand.
The US Postal Service direly needs a helping hand.
Oh won’t you heed this message, won’t you hear my mournful cry
It’s hard to keep your wits about with all this death and dying
But harder times will come our way, on this you can rely
Unless we learn to not be fooled by awful dreadful lies.
Our government is doing a disservice to us all.
To not deliver us the mail should be against the law!
So many men and women out risking their poor lives
Delivering goods to our front doors despite these troubled times
They make the rounds to bring us mail, they work come rain or shine
and now it seems the government is leaving them behind.
I too have lost my livelihood, I’m struggling day by day
Ole Uncle Sam won’t bail me out, while corporate crooks are saved
In times like these it’s fair to say we’ll need new ways to vote
But if the Postal Service dies, my friends, that’s all she wrote.
They’re well aware of what’s to come and chose to do us wrong.
If the US Postal Service dies, our right to vote is gone.
It’s time for us to make demands, before it is too late.
So, fully fund the US Postal Service for God’s sake!
