10 Most Popular Unanswered Petitions to the White House

[SHRED]

SOURCE: AllGov.com

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Since creating the We the People website in September, the White House has posted more than 130 petitions from Americans urging changes in government policy. Initially, officials promised to respond to petitions that received more than 5,000 signatures in a month; later, the threshold was upped to 25,000 signatures after the White House realized it had underestimated the response.

The White House took action to speed up implementation on reducing student loan debt following petitions it received in that area.

But response to a petition won’t be enough in all cases to get the White House to act.

Last week, it publicly refused to embrace changes in marijuana laws, despite receiving eight petitions on the subject, including one, “Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol,” that attracted 74,169 signatures. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, said marijuana is “not a benign drug” and is “associated with addiction, respiratory disease and cognitive impairment.”

As of Saturday, the 10 most popular open petitions (based on signatures) were:

1. Crackdown on puppy mills (30,920)
2. Abolish the TSA (29,717)
3. Allow growth of industrial hemp (21,978)
4. End “war on drugs” (20,685)
5. Dissolve the Electoral College (18,600)
6. Re-establish separation between investment and commercial banks (17,451)
7. Restore democracy by ending corporate personhood (16,837)
8. Repeal the Patriot Act (15,694)
9. Protect children from air pollution (13,886)
10. Legalize same-sex marriages across the U.S. (13,656)


This is not the first time the Obama administration has found itself in an awkward situation when it asked for feedback from the public. Shortly after Barack Obama’s inauguration, it asked citizen’s to send in their ideas and then asked people to vote for their favorites, which 1,400,000 Americans did. Two of the top three choices dealt with legalizing marijuana. Number 7 at that time was revoking George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the top 1%.

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/10_Most_Popular_Unanswered_Petitions_to_the_White_House_111105

--

Mic check...check...check...is this thing on?

:argh:

[Sabriel]

1. "We really want to know your opinion!"

"Er, no, we don't."

It's like a company survey: it makes you look concerned about consumer desires, but you're not actually going to do anything with the results.

Window dressing.

[AlecBGreen]

3. it certainly looks that way doesnt it?

do they want our feedback because they genuinely want to address our concerns or are they just window dressing? It appears the latter

[a simple pattern]

4. Taking names

Making lists

[saras]

7. That's not true

Just because they have no intention of actually giving you anything you want, doesn't mean they don't want to know your opinion for their own reasons.

Let a hundred flowers bloom. Then dig up, at the root, all of them that aren't the right color, size, and shape.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. A great, new petition for them...

on another thread...http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2218770

[malthaussen]

5. They really want to know our opinion

Not that they intend to do anything with the information.

-- Mal

[Anatos]

9. You think that's all it takes?

I was unaware the web site had been fashioned as a replacement for Congress and the Judicial Branch.

[treestar]

6. Any petitions to Congress?

What kind of morons think petition to the WH is enough?

[frazzled]

8. I was going to say ...

Some of these things are not even within the province of the Executive OR Legislative branches, such as "end corporate personhood." It is the Supreme Court that gets to interpret the Constitution. So unless the administration and Congress want to get together to add an amendment to the Constitution that specifically disallows that interpretation (a really tall order and long process), I think the petitioners are petitioning the wrong party.

I love how "end puppy mills" seems to have gotten more votes than ending DOMA. Reminds me of many years ago, when my daughter, then in 2nd grade I think, wrote to George Herbert Walker Bush when he was president, asking him to stop cruelty to animals. She got some form response from the WH back and, even at that age, went, "pfeh, he didn't even read my letter."

What surprises me is how few signatures any of these things really got, in the larger scheme of things.

[Tesha]

10. Actually, Congress and the Executive *COULD* end Corporate Personhood.

They are, after all, the bodies that define what a
corporation is and what it isn't.

They won't do anything about it, of course, since
the current state of affairs suites their desires,
but they definitely could do something about it
if they wanted.

Tesha

[styersc]

11. End the BCS system for choosing the College Football Champ!!!

Go to a play-off system!!!!

No Justice!!! No Peace!!!!