Snooki on Stamps?

The United States Postal Service has always had a rule that stamps can only picture persons who have been deceased for longer than ten years, unless they are a deceased President who can be commemorated upon death. This rule grew up informally throughout the nineteenth century and was probably related to the American republican (small r) tradition of non deification of political personalities. But it has left us in a situation where our commemoratives largely picture people who have little relevance to young people today. And we are the only nation that does this. When England won the world cup in soccer in the 1960s a commemorative was issued that old time non collectors still talk about. Here’s the plan. Repeal the ten year rule-except in the case of non Presidential politicians and political events (which good taste would suggest should rarely be commemorated). And begin to entice young people into stamp collecting with annual baseball World Series souvenir sheets and Superbowl commemoratives. Or perhaps a National Book Award winners series for the highbrow youth. The goal is to attract young people to the hobby though a certain level of taste must be maintained. Am American idol series yes-but Snooki- lets hope never.