The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
Delivering the vote: How 4 pressures are testing the Postal Service’s role in American elections
English Summary
The Brookings report argues that while mail-in voting has become a cornerstone of American elections, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) remains strictly a carrier, not an election administrator. This division of labor is now under severe strain because recent Supreme Court rulings have reinforced the postmark as definitive proof of timely voting. However, the USPS's ongoing network overhaul means that ballots travel through increasingly distant processing centers, making the postmark date unreliable relative to when the voter actually mailed the ballot. Policymakers must address this critical gap between legal requirements and physical logistics before external pressures—including financial crises or political attempts to make USPS a gatekeeper—overwhelm its core mission.
中文摘要
布魯金斯智庫的報告指出，儘管郵寄投票已成為美國選舉的基石，但美國郵政服務（USPS）仍僅是傳遞者，而非選舉管理機構。這種職能劃分目前正承受巨大壓力，因為近期的最高法院裁決已將郵戳視為準確證明投開票及時性的證據。然而，鑑於 USPS 正在進行的網絡重組，選票必須經由越來越遙遠的處理中心轉運，使得郵戳日期與選民實際寄出投票的時間點之間難以可靠對應。政策制定者必須在外部壓力（包括金融危機或政治上試圖將 USPS 化為守門人）壓垮其核心使命之前，解決法律要求與實體物流之間的關鍵鴻溝。
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