A movement started.
There are petitions to the White House from people of more than 30 states asking for peaceful secession from the United States of America to form a “NEW government.”
These petitions, starting with a petition for Louisiana’s secession from the Union, are not endorsed by the governments of their respective states. They are written by citizens through the White House website.
The petitions are filled with inspiring quotes from the Declaration of Independence and patriots such as Benjamin Franklin. All of these petitions seem to say the same thing: We, the people, want freedom.
This may sound good to many, but I would ask you to consider the possibility that there exists a better system of government.
Consider this: On Tuesday, one brave citizen called for truly radical change. There is now a petition to make comedian Duncan Trussell the emperor of Earth. The petition appeals to the Obama administration to “construct an iron throne made of meteorites” and other less-than-savory items upon which the emperor can hold dominion over the planet.
Just kidding.
But this just goes to show what it takes to place a petition on the White House website. The petition area of the website is headlined “We the People: Your Voice in Our Government,” and just about any citizen can put anything they want up for petition.
I encourage readers to read the secession petitions. Many of them are rife with grammatical errors.
I surely have my problems with the ever-growing federal government, but if this is the face of what is to replace it, then I won’t sign.
I would also sincerely like to know where all of these people were when the younger Bush held the presidential office. It is my strong suspicion, given the high percentage of petitions on behalf of red states, that these people are only calling for secession now because Obama won the election.
Nearly all of the domestic issues handled on the federal level that one could complain about were started under Bush, I would argue. Why didn’t they petition when he was in office? Was it merely because of his political party?
Also, I am surprised that some of these petitions complain only of domestic policies. Policies such as the indefinite detainment of citizens without trial are worthy of protest, but isn’t foreign policy equally worthy of mention?
To be very concerned with foreign policy isn’t nitpicky, as I’ve been told it is. Looking at our defense budget alone, we spend more than any country in the world by far. Since 9/11, we have spent trillions of dollars on wars.
If one is concerned with the national debt, as some of these petitioners are, I would think that foreign policy would be very important.
More than for money, though, perhaps there are good moral reasons to take foreign policy into great consideration.
Since we invaded Iraq, there have been more than 100,000 deaths, mostly civilians. Just imagine that for a little. If it helps, imagine the faces of your own countrymen, people you know right here.
Now imagine the hundreds of innocent noncombatants who died in Pakistan from drone strikes. Imagine the little girl crouched over the bloody corpse of her mother. Imagine the weeping father picking up the limp body of his dying son.
How could anyone think that to consider such things is to nitpick?
Are these petitioners the same people who were beating the war drum before we invaded Iraq? Are these petitioners the same people who are already beating the war drum again for Iran? I would hope not.
These petitions seem less than desirable for many reasons. I would encourage those who want to make a change for the better to read up on the histories of the issues and to take a course in English grammar.
Brandon Lee Gagne is an anthropology senior at UF. His column usually appears on Thursdays. You can contact him via opinions@alligator.org.
