I'll take "Things I never knew about the US Postal Service" for 200, Alex

Along with my Friends of the Library newsletter, my mail the other day also included a letter from my Congressional Representative, the esteemed Martin Olav Sabo. I get mail from Marty fairly regularly, because he hears from me fairly regularly. Most of the letters I send are automated messages e-mailed via MoveOn and True Majority*, but on occasion, I'll write a letter in my own words as well. Norm (or, Mayor Quimby, as I like to call him) typically answers my e-mail within a week with a pleasant thank you for contacting him followed by an unfortunate list of all the reasons he disagrees with me. I would expect nothing less from Bush's lap dog, of course. Dayton, I'm sad to say, rarely responds, but when he does, the message (again, via e-mail) is a clear "I'm with you, sister. I'll do what I can."

Marty is more old school. It takes a little longer to get a reply from him, but that's because his mail comes the old fashioned way: on a crisp sheet of paper bearing the official United States seal, folded into an envelope and delivered physically to my home, rather than traveling through cyberspace to arrive near-instantaneously in my Inbox. The environmentalist in me thinks he could save the paper and switch to electronic replies. The Emily Post in me appreciates the gesture of the proper letter.

Whenever I pull an envelope from Marty out of my mailbox, I smile, partly because of the quaintness of receiving what could almost be considered "real mail," but mostly because I know the letter will contain some spunky and bold comment that fully mirrors my own sentiments, and it heartens me to know that at least one of my representatives truly represents me.

It was fun, for example, to read the following statement printed on official Congressional letterhead, bearing the same seal that hangs above the President during his periodic pep talks to the nation. Sabo wrote: "It is very frustrating to hear false optimism and 'stay the course' rhetoric from President Bush when it is so clear that our open presence in Iraq inflames the violent insurgency." Amen, Marty. Way to speak your mind and tell it like it is.

So I read Marty's letters, just as I imagine (foolishly, of course), that he personally reads mine. What I never noticed on these letters before, however, is that they bear absolutely no postage (neither in stamp form nor any printed box indicating "bulk postage paid"). Where the stamp would be is Martin's personal signature, and opposite that are the words "Public Document - Official Business." A quick search on Google taught me that members of Congress can legally send "Official mail" without payment of postage by drawing from an allotted expense account. I didn't know that. (Did you?) I suppose it makes sense... taxpayers are going to foot the bill for the postage one way or another; might as well just cut out the middle step and avoid paying someone to also affix a stamp or run the mail through a postage meter.

The postal privileges detailed in the special eligibility standards for official mail go further than current members of Congress, however. If you're a former Speaker of the House, you can continue to send public documents, agricultural reports, and seeds (yes! seeds!) for "as long as the former Speaker deems necessary." And former Presidents (and the surviving spouse of a former President) can apparently send any old thing they want via these same privileges as well. The mail doesn't even have to be political or official in nature.

I get a strange mix of amusement and disgust imagining a retired George W. years from now signing his name in the corner of his electric bill to avoid buying a stamp. It will happen, I imagine. I wouldn't be remotely surprised.



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* I don't feel particularly bad about this lazy woman's mode of activism, as I'm fairly certain none of my representatives read nor respond to my messages themselves either. As long as some staffer puts a checkmark in the "For" or "Against" column on the constituent feedback record for the particular issue I'm fake-writing about (and then sends me the approved multi-purpose response on that issue), my impersonal letter has done its job.