It has always been a good idea to privatize mail service. Now, it might be a case of life or death.

Anthrax is floating around the government-controlled mail system and the government is dealing with the crisis in typical bureaucratic fashion. If ever there was a time to understand the fundamental concept "Liberty is the solution for crisis, not government," now is the time.

In response to a terrorist attack or just some sole wacko, the government has been fumbling and bumbling this crisis from the start. First they told us that the first case of Anthrax infection was an isolated case--not connected to any type of terrorist attack. Guess what? They were wrong. Then they told postal employees they had nothing to fear. A couple of dead bodies later and again it's obvious the government was wrong. Now we have a few cases of anthrax infection where the most obvious connection is cross-contamination from other mailed letters, something else the government told us couldn't happen.

The government Postal Service has been going along with every one of these "government advisories," as more become infected.

Now the Postal Service has made the genius move of buying eleven mail "decontamination" machines. Eleven! And guess where they are going to be deployed? At mail centers in and around Washington DC.  News to the Postmaster General, the anthrax bacteria has already penetrated DC. Spores have been found in mailrooms of the White House, Pentagon, State Department, CIA, and the Supreme Court. About the only thing left in DC not infected is a Red Roof Inn or two. I think they have gotten through to their DC targets, Mister Postmaster. So you buy all of eleven machines and announce where you are putting them. In other words, you have told whoever is mailing the anthrax to mail to other parts of America. Thanks a lot, you moron.

Now if the next target is Madonna, some poor little old lady in Pasadena might become infected through cross-contamination if her mail center is shared with Madonna. Or maybe the anthrax mailer(s) will go after Ted Turner or Robert Redford in their respective retreats in Wyoming and Utah, thus putting individuals at risk in those states.

While every American must depend upon the government-monopolized mail service for checks and bills, a service that also now occasionally delivers a few anthrax spores, we are bombarded almost annoyingly with the solicitation of security measures for our telephones.

Don't want to pick up the telephone until you know who it is? Try Caller ID.

Don't want to deal with a certain caller right now? Send him to voicemail.

Don't want to miss important calls while on another call? Try Call Waiting.

How do all these services come about? Through free markets and competition, solving people's problems.

This is what we desperately need as far as our mail service right now. We don't need some Postmaster General to decide to protect an already infected Washington DC area. We need private postal delivery. Can you imagine what their first sales promos might look like?

WE DECONTAMINATE ALL OUR MAIL

WE OFFER IDENTIFIED MAIL SERVICE, WE KNOW WHERE EVERY LETTER COMES FROM (GET ONLY THE MAIL YOU WANT)

There are probably hundreds of practical solutions that could easily deal with the anthrax threat, again to make all our mail safe, but we won't find out about them unless we unleash good old American entrepreneurship.

We can unleash this flood of entrepreneurship or we can sit back and hope none of our important mail is sorted at a mail center where just that day a target anthrax letter arrives.

Private mail service, it's better than anthrax roulette.

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