As the saying goes: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Some Americans upset with the results of Election Day don’t quite agree, and now residents from 20 states have filed petitions with the White House to secede from the country.
Louisiana became the first of the (as of now) 50 united states that managed to collect enough signatures to have their petition for secession added to the White House’s website last week, and so far they’ve had no problem finding company. A petition asking for the government to “Peacefully grant the State of Louisiana to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government” garnered more than 14,000 signatures since going live on November 7, and so far 19 other states have managed to attract similar success.
According to the terms of participation on WhiteHouse.gov, the website for the executive branch of the United States will make any petition searchable if it can collect 150 signatures within one months’ time, and collecting 25,000 signatures will necessitate an official response. So far Texas seems to be in the running to be the first state to receive a response from the commander-in-chief, with 21,777 signees asking for secession since their petition went live on November 9, barely 48 hours after US President Barack Obama claimed a victory in his bid for re-election.
In all, 20 states have so far broken the 150 signature threshold, mostly sticking closely to the script included in the first petition published by “Michael E” of Slidell, LA, who quotes the Declaration of Independence in his plea to once again separate the public from a power that, according to thousands of residents, doesn’t represent what is best for the people anymore.
