The United States Postal Service continues to face a financial crisis in the midst of the pandemic and the upcoming presidential election as more and more voters consider mail-in ballots for health and safety.

For today’s show, Allen looks at the origins of this crisis and billionaire Charles Koch’s efforts to privatize the USPS since the 1970s with Lisa Graves of True North Research. Over the course of the hour, they discuss her latest report, “The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill The U.S. Postal Service,” why privatizing the postal service has become such a conservative talking point, and what it all means for our democracy.

Lisa Graves is the president of True North Research, co-director of DocumentedInvestigations.org, and former chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She served as executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy from 2009–2017, where she continues as a senior research fellow.

Cover photo by Alex Perz on Unsplash