Why Secession Petitions are Good and the Death Star is Bad

Why Secession Petitions are Good and the Death Star is Bad starwars.wikia.com In the past weeks, petitions have sprung up for a variety of clearly ridiculous proposals. The most notably absurd of these is the request for the government to build a Death Star. I assume its safe to say that people dont actually want the government to begin planning for the construction of a fictional intergalactic warship, which means there must be some other motive behind this petition and others like it. The most likely reasoning is the belief that by signing a Death Star petition people are protesting the existence of secession petitions by highlighting the fact that using the White House website to advance a cause does not make it legitimate. But in fact, all this does is cheapen the relevance of White House petitions in the first place. There are people who would argue that the petition policy should be done away with, but for those who still believe in the First Amendments right to petition, this should not be satisfying. Ill be the first to tell you that secessionists, even in my home state of Texas where secession talk is nothing new, are being illogical, divisive, and un-American, but the existence of petitions which express seriously-held political views does not justify a backlash against this entirely beneficial White House policy. I may not like it and you may not like it, but some Americans feel that their state should leave the Union, and the great thing about that Union is that it offers them a way to make their voices heard by the highest authority in government himself. But now, due to political disagreement, people have taken to disrespecting and defiling the system which is meant to be used for petitioning the White House. You might get a chuckle out of the request to deport all secession petitioners, but signing something like this without genuinely being in favor of the cause is equivalent to voting for Bruce Wayne in a presidential election. You may not be doing anything inherently ba d, but you cheapen the legitimacy of our democratic system by doing so. President Obamas petition policy could be a great thing. Sure, well have to weather the occasional ludicrous request, but a simple no from the White House is as far as those petitions will get. In exchange for that small annoyance, as few as 25,000 people can now bring any issue they wish to the attention of the federal government. Serious pending petitions on the site right now range from a request to support Catalan independence from Spain (an issue where the president has no tangible power, but can exert influence by expressing an opinion) to support for finalizing standards for gluten-free labeling. These are issues that matter, brought by citizens who care about their causes, and by getting the required number of signatures they are at least able to secure a response from the White House, symbolizing a first step in the political process. For many Americans, secession petitions represent the worst kind of political action, but the real enemy are the ones who make a joke of the e ntire system.