CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE COMMUNISTS FROM U.S. POSTAGE STAMPS AND ADOPT MORE PATRIOTIC THEMES

The following is an open letter to the U.S. Congress and postal service (readers are welcome to copy it and forward it):

As a lifelong stamp collector and a specialist in foreign policy matters, I have long been concerned that decision-making concerning the selection of U.S. postage stamp designs has reflected a comparative weakness in general understanding of the critical role played by such images in promoting the ideals and values of our nation. Stamps are a form of political monuments for posterity that reveal our COMMON values. However, during the second term of the Clinton Administration, and now in the third year of the Bush Administration, it is clear that the governing committee responsible for selecting stamp themes and designs has lost its nerve and sense of responsibility in this regard.

Many of the world’s stamp collectors have long derided the US Postal Service (USPS) for the generally inferior quality of its stamps and poor theme selection. I do not mean to criticize all recent selections. To the contrary, some designs and themes have been outstanding (e.g., recent airmail, priority mail, and state commemoratives, as well as the "Old Glory" collectible set). However, there has recently crept into the decision-making process a noticeable pattern of selfish political scheming and dissonance concerning patriotic messaging. For example, the USPS published no less than 4 stamps approved during the second term of the Clinton administration (but with most published under the Bush Administration!) with people who were vicious anti-American propagandists and supporters of communist terrorism and Soviet espionage against the free world: ([1] the Mexican communist and Stalinist, Frida Khalo; [2] a traitor who renounced his U.S. citizenship in 1962 after joining the communist party, W.E.B. DuBois (who received the highly unusual "honor" of having two stamps within a decade, something that real American heroes have never received); [3] Alice Hamilton, who was called a "Social Reformer" on the stamp, curiously choosing to ignore her pioneering role in the health care profession and at Harvard, and implicitly focusing instead on her pro-Bolshevik "fellow traveler" political activism and notorious advocacy of the release of terrorists Saco & Vanzetti and the atomic spies, the Rosenbergs; [4] Langston Hughes (issued in 2002), memorialized as a "writer/poet" by the USPS, who was, in fact, an ardent Stalinist (even writing in defense of one of Stalin’s show trials and authoring many "revolutionary poems" for the propaganda organs of the CPUSA) and one of the most well-known communist activists of the 1930s (at the height of the terror). Everyone of these people defended regimes guilty of genocide, while three of the four advanced the cause of those who sought to inflict similar atrocities on the American people. So they end up on US stamps? These stamps must be recalled and possession in mint format outlawed, for the sake of posterity (much as we do for stamps of "enemy" nations).

Other recent commemoratives that might have been less clear cut as outright offenses to the honor of the American people, but remain problematic include: a stamp issued to commemorate Enrico Fermi, who has been accused by a former top-ranking Soviet spymaster, Pavel Sudoplatov (who is one of the few people in the world who would have known the truth of the matter), of having been an eager spy for the Soviets (heck, I fully expect the USPS to put the Rosenbergs on a stamp soon); and Leonard Bernstein (issued in 2001), who was, of course, a famous composer and director, but also a "fellow traveler" who flirted with the communist Left, but ultimately chose to hold a fund-raiser in 1970 for the communist (North Korean-financed and armed!) terrorist group the Black Panthers.

Also troublesome for the signal it offers conservatives in the GOP was the move to issue a stamp with the image of Cesar Chavez. Chavez is less an icon among Mexicans in America than a hero of Third Way Gramscians. Chavez spent most of his early organizing years as an agent for Saul Alinsky’s Community Service Organization (CSO). His role as a symbol for the devotees of the Alinsky approach to mass covert socialist mobilization (including the radical socialist heading the AFL-CIO, who has been pushing this movement to institutionalize Chavez as an American icon) makes one wonder if President George Bush, who passed a law while Governor of Texas imposing a state holiday for Chavez, and who has now signed off on issuing a stamp glorifying this man, understands that his closest political allies on this matter are the socialist revolutionary John J. Sweeney and "MexiCal" Comrade Governor Gray Davis (who pushed a couple of years ago to have a paid state holiday for Chavez).

At the same time, there are countless institutions and themes that would go a long way to promoting the greatness of America, and the courage of its citizens, which are simply IGNORED by the current group of decision-makers responsible for stamp selection. I offer the following list of possible themes as a mere tip of the iceberg in terms of what true Americans who are also very familiar with postage stamp designs from around the world might come up with for future issues:

· America’s Special Forces – Green Berets, Army Rangers, Delta Force, CIA clandestine services. With designs modeled on Belgium’s most recent NATO issues. · Afghanistan Campaign. With 4-color photos in an 8-stamp sheetlet. · Liberation of Iraq. Ditto. · ODS. An 8-stamp sheet related to the services and weapons deployed in the first Gulf War. instead of the timid single stamp commemorative already offered. · America’s Intelligence Services – CIA, DIA, NSA, Air Force, Navy, Army. · American Management Association (Since 1923) – the organization that has trained millions of Americans over the years on "best practices" in American enterprise, and which promoted the uniquely American concept of "scientific management for profitability." · Captain Isaac Davis -- in a commemorative showing the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA, where he was the first to fall in determined resistance to the British column on April 19, 1775. The title could be "April Morning" and include a photo of the monument to his valor in the town square of Acton, MA. The design could use a 4-color photo of annual reenactments. · Schools of Foreign Affairs – commemorating Fletcher, Georgetown, SAIS. · Business Administration – top MBA schools, Harvard, etc. · America’s Top Universities – showing shots of various campuses broadened to 20 to expand beyond the Ivy League. · America’s Civil War Reenactments – 4-stamp commemorative, only this time with 4-color images of reenactors. · America’s Revolutionary War Reenactments. Ditto. · America’s Gifts to the World – 4 stamp commemorative highlighting many of the great gifts of America to foreign nations, such as the idea of liberty, technology and trade, the Marshall Plan, Famine Relief, and now AIDS relief. · "Sovereignty and Liberty" – Republican government and liberty themes (we haven’t had a good series in this regard since the 1970s) – it’s time again. · American Peacekeepers – Sheet with a map showing all the peace-keeping missions American forces have been in involved in for the UN since 1950 – from Korea to the Middle East, etc. · D-Day commemorative – special 4-color sheet showing Omaha and Utah beach maps and numerous photos of the battle (modeled on superior Jersey and UK commemoratives). · America’s Mountains and Ranges (McKinley, Mt. Washington, Mt. St. Helens, Continental Divide) – modeled to surpass recent spectacular UN and Canadian sheets on the same subject matter. · America’s Volcanoes – Hawaiian, St. Helens, etc. 4-color photos. · Great American Landscapes (art works, not just the artists) – e.g., Hudson River School paintings modeled to surpass the famous Soviet Hermitage series. · America’s Best Beaches – 4 color photo spectacular commemorative sheets. Designed to surpass two recent spectacular series from the UK and New Zealand. · Revolutionary War Parks – photos of Yorktown, Old North Bridge, etc. · American Cities – 4-color flyover shots. Several sheets. Remember the PBS series on regions? · America’s Ski Areas – 4-color spectacular with flyovers and jumpers (to equal the most spectacular images of cliff jumping from the movies). · Water Sports – 4-stamp commemorative : surfing, water skiing, para-sailing, swimming. · American Indian Tribes – 20-stamp sheet with the largest tribes represented. · Mountain Climbing – Half Dome, Cathedral Ledge, free climbing vertical, etc. in 4-color. · Great Moments in Hockey – I mean something to compete with sports card images, and can we please get a decent photo of the 1980 Olympic team beating the Soviets on a stamp? · Great Moments in Baseball – ditto. You can get around the issue of living persons if you try hard enough (memorialize the games and world series, not just the parks [good idea, but let’s keep going!]). · Great Moments in Football – ditto, focusing on the Super Bowl as a theme. · America’s Gold Medal Winners series. · Volley Ball – a uniquely American sport (how about a great beach shot?) · Science Fiction – 8-stamp 4-color commemorative with movie scenes from Star Wars, War of the Worlds, Starship Troopers, Terminator, the Matrix, etc. I know they are movies, but they have far greater "cultural" significance than some of the themes offered on stamps in recent years. · Edward Teller – leading figure in the creation of the Hydrogen bomb and SDI. · Air Force Space Command. 4-stamp commemorative using various photo images. · Discovering Transuranium elements -- Joseph W. Kennedy, Arthur C. Wahl, et. al. · July 4 Celebrations (Washington, D.C., Boston Hat Shell, barbecues) - 4-color photos. · Newport’s Mansions (Newport, RI) series. · Sailing – 4-stamp sheet to compete with some of the spectacular stamps from NZ. · America’s Cup History – series, based on 4-color photos. · Plantations of the Old South series. · Spy Planes – 4-stamp commemorative. · Top Fighter Aircraft of the USA series. Do I have to send money to some Pacific island to get a B-2 or B-1 on a stamp? · "Defense Against BioTerrorism" – NIH and First Responders, popular vigilance · "First Responders" – Police, Fire, HAZMAT. · American Heroes in Combat – a 4-stamp series showing some famous combat scenes from WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. This is for the heroic enlisted man/woman. · Memorial to the WTC – based on the NYC beams of light (4-color nighttime shot). The Post Offices in NYC sold a commemorative FDC with the most spectacular image of this memorial – put it on a stamp. · Homeland Security Agency. · America’s Subway Systems – D.C., NYC, Boston, Chicago. · National Defense University. · Naval War College. · National Defense University. · Western Civilization – a souvenier sheetlet highlighting America’s role as the risk-taking extension of the Western Idea. · Top Prep Schools (from Phillips Exeter to Portsmouth Abbey and 91st Street, etc.). · Top Public High Schools – have a contest to see which of the top 20 should be included. · West Point – a new one with a full color dress parade photo. · Boy Scout Jamborees – 4-stamp sheetlet showing famous ones, including the annual West Point, and Patriot’s Day Jamboree in Acton, MA. · Summer Camps… · ROTC. · "Victory in the Cold War" sheet showing CIA operations in Europe, a U-2 spy plane, covert action in Afghanistan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, etc. · Border Patrol – 4-stamp commemorative showing defenders in diverse locations. · Young Entrepreneurs – lemonade stand, painters, computer programmers, business training organizations serving youth. · Fancy Cars – photos, not paintings · Funny Cars – photos, not paintings · Racing Cars – photos, not paintings · Motor Bikes – photos, not paintings · Shuttles Challenger and Columbia Memorial sheetlets.

I can go on and on. However, by now the reader has no doubt asked himself:"haven’t they done this already?" Check your Scott catalogue and the USPS web site. The answer, almost universally, is NO. So why aren’t such obvious themes – all of which go right to the heart of what America is about -- on our stamps now? Good question. The systematic failure of the bureaucrats in charge to keep "on message" reflects a fundamental problem with the process. The Post Office and its stamps could mean so much more to the people of America – and generate a lot more revenue from stamp sales, if only it would do a better job in stamp design and selection.

It did surprise me that the PO put Frida Kahloe on a stamp, I must admit. I doubt she would have liked it, either. Langston Hughes may have been a commie dupe (I hope he was a dupe) but he was a great poet, and I think it is digusting that nowadays you have to look in the "african american" section for his poetry.

I was going to write the author off as a nut (which I still think he is a bit) but some of his stamp ideas are great. I always like to buy pretty stamps, it makes the bill paying less painful. I particularly liked the one set they had going for a while, it was "apples and oranges", please don't ask me to admit how long it took me to figure that one out!

They definately need to pick up on some of these ideas, I'd be happy to buy them.

Camber-G: I'm with you, IssacDavis ! Only totally banal subjects on stamps fom now on !

Right on, Camber. Lassie, Ozzie, Harriet, Ahnold and Maria. Clean, wholesome, so that you're not worried about your kid licking them.
This thread is a joke, right? We should have a litmus committee of fat asses making $100,000 a year, judging whether stamp characters are loyal enough?
--Raoul

...I fully expect to smash Angela Davis on my phone bills, whenever she dies....

Nope. Buy the flag stamps and avoid ones like Cesar Chavez and Thrugood Marshall, the affirmative action Supreme Court Justice.

The commemorative set of four flags was available only on line--I asked for it at a number of post offices. Why aren't all the stamps sold over the counter at the larger post offices at least, if not at the smaller ones?

Here's a poem from that great poet Langston Hughes:

“Now across the waters in Russia they have a big U.S.S.R.
The fatherland of the Soviets, but that is mighty far
From New York or Texas or California, too.
So listen, fellow-workers, This is what we have to do.
Put one more S in the U.S.A., Oh, we'll live to see it yet.
When the land belongs to the farmers, and the factories belong to the working men,
The U.S.A., when we take control, will be the U.S.S.A. then.
But we can't win out just talking, So let us take things in our hands,
Then down and away with the bosses sway, Hail Communist land.
So stand up in battle and wave our flag on high,
And shout out, fellow workers, Our new slogan to the sky.
But we can't join hands strong together, So long as white are lynching black,
So black and white in one Union fight, and get on the right track.
By Texas or Georgia or Alabama led,
Come together, fellow workers, Black and White can all be Red.”

This is best one I could find quickly. One web site I went to noted that that person had been restricted by the literary estate from having a lot of access to the poems. So I didn't look real hard for my fave. Anyway, I know Hughes became a commie, but this poem that I found shows a better, maybe an earlier side. Ok, I hope the lawyers don't mind, here goes:

Theme For English B

by Langston Hughes

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you--
Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white--
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--
although you're older--and white--
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

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