Mr. Postman, deliver de letter, da sooner da better

I write a lot of letters

     Oh, I don't write them to people who matter in my life, like friends, relatives, or people I just know.
     I mean faceless bureaucrats, stuck in an office someplace.
     Sometimes I get a response.
     For example, I wrote Michelle Obama a couple of weeks ago.  I read an article in Parade magazine and in it she said her father had MS.  Well, my wife has MS, so I wrote her a letter asking her to use her public notoriety to draw attention to this insidious disease.  I got back a form letter telling me the president is working on several issues important to the people and I could check out his website for more information.
    Usually I save the responses, but this one I canned because it didn't even pertain to my letter.
     I was disappointed.  I will not vote for her for president.
     (Great, start the rumor that Michelle is going to run for president.  Conservative talk show hosts will flip out with stories about the Obamas circumventing the term limit provision of the Constitution.  Rush will threaten to move to Cuba, again.  Why is he still here?)
     I also wrote Lisa Madigan, attorney general for Illinois, asking her office to investigate the monopoly Rockford TV stations are exercising by blacking out Chicago stations.  I got a nice form letter saying the matter has been referred to the Rockford office of Madigan, where I am sure it was deep-sixed.
     Strangely, former Cong. Manzullo and current Cong. Kinzinger have always sent me detailed responses to my questions.  The exception being the TV blackout.  Manzullo once sent me a three page response to questions I raised about the US invasion of Iraq.   Kinzinger sent me one on our role in Afghanistan.  While I don't like the positions, I appreciated the responses.  I was able to see their thought processes.  I like that.
     I've written letters to the editor at the Tribune, and one was published.
     I have written corporations about the conditions of their stores, and written letters of praise for service I received from employees.
     I've sent letters of complaint to food companies and received coupons or free product in return, even though that wasn't my reason for writing.
     Maybe it's just me, but I think people in charge need to hear from us once in a while.  Corporations seem to be people too, so they need to hear from the masses once in a while too.
     I used to buy Dexter shoes, made in Maine.  One day I went to buy a pair, and the shoe had a Made in China label.  Same price.  I didn't buy the shoes, but I wrote Dexter and chided them for taking a good product made in America and outsourcing it to another country.  They never replied, no surprise.
     But companies, lawmakers, people in authority need to hear from the masses.  They need to be asked why once in a while.  They need to be criticized when they falter, and complimented when they do well.
    If we all did that, maybe the USPS would break even for a day.