Political Cartoon #3:

1. Rick Mckee drew this cartoon for the Augusta Chronicle.
2. Key objects:

• Santa Claus: It's Santa. Self-evident. 
• An elf: One of Santa's helpers. Also evident. 
• A USPS worker: With the proliferation of computer-based communication and cell phones, the use for snail mail has declined. With it, the USPS has lost more and more revenue each year. However, because it's a government corporation, it's miraculously not bankrupt yet! Even so, the government is looking to find ways to save money, and thinking about cutting mail deliveries on certain days of the week. This cartoon satirizes the situation by showing that cutting mail days will, in fact, have an impact on the mail system. 

3.  The cartoon satirizes the situation by showing that in cutting mail, the most serious thing affected is that children can't get their letters to Santa on time. 4. The cartoon deals with the decline of snail mail and the USPS. 
5. The cartoon's message is that the USPS isn't entirely necessary. 
6. The cartoon demonstrates that the USPS isn't an integral part of everyday life-- the most serious thing that could happen is that during the holidays, letters won't be delivered to Santa on time. (Who, gasp, doesn't actually exist. Sorry for that spoiler.)

http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/cartoons/2011-12-09/rick-mckee-editorial-cartoon