Tonight’s question, greetings, and banter here. (More)
As of 3pm today, 25 petitions for states to secede had been filed at the White House “We the People” website. Most are identical and, except for Texas (23,880) and Louisiana (15,280), all have 3000-5000 signatures. The threshold for an official response is 25,000. Users may file and sign more than one petition. Are these petitions a “flood” … or a few people who resent losing an election?
(Thanks to HurrikanEagle for this question idea!)
November 12, 2012 at 6:15 pm
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November 12, 2012 at 6:24 pm
I think they’re people who resent losing an election. Of course, I also think it’d be … interesting … to see just how long LA or TX would last as “independent.” Particularly when they’re told that “gee, sorry, but you don’t keep the military bases,” and for Louisiana “good luck fixing your levees.”
November 12, 2012 at 6:28 pm
The population of Texas is 25,674,681. 23,880 is hardly a flood. The population of Louisiana is 4,574,836. 15,280 signatures is also not a flood.
Using the word “flood” in the headline reflects sensational headline writing. People signing the petitions are probably happy to have attracted media attention to their stunt. I don’t doubt that the signers are angry. I wonder if the flying spaghetti monster signed? Hmm.
November 12, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Texas has 33,813 signatures and the deadline is a month away so the fun should last a while.
In answer to the evenings question. Correlation doesn’t imply causation.
Losing the election may have no relation to the petition signatures.
November 13, 2012 at 5:49 am
When Rick Perry raised the question of secession back in 2009, Texans reacted in such a way in such large numbers that Perry shut up.
And if I were the White House, my response to these petitions would be very simple: Hold a referendum, and let the majority decide.
TX came into the union because it couldn’t pay its debts. Without the flow of Federal money, they’d probably wind up in the same situation.
Regardless, even when I lived there over 20 years ago, there were groups of this nature. They didn’t get very far.