Sure, we'll support the Wisconsin recalls from afar. And Elizbeth Warren with donations. And Occupying Wall Street in spirit. But when it comes to seizing an opportunity that's been handed to us on a silver platter to actually make the Administration take note of our concerns, we're failing miserably. Then we go and write diaries about how Obama isn't listening to the base.
The White House has had a petition site up for five days now, We The People. Create a petition, get 150 signatures, and your petition becomes visible so that anyone can sign it. Once a petition has gotten 5000 signatures, the White House has promised to respond to it in a serious way.
If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure it's sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.
There are some good, general petitions, e.g., 'End the War on Drugs', some silly petitions, e.g., 'The Murakush Free Moors Act of 2011 "Stop Complaining and Sign the Petition" For Recognition of Moorish Treaty Rights', and some petitions with a lot of signatures directed at very specific goals, e.g., 'Call an Investigation into Allegations of Prosecutorial & Judicial Misconduct in the Case of Sholom Rubashkin'.
What there isn't much of are petitions calling for specific actions by the Administration that are of general interest to the progressive community -- that's us. And that's because we've failed to organize to do so.
You can read more about what's on the 'We The People' site and why what's happened with the petitions so far is not in the best interest of the progressive community in my diary from yesterday: How to Organize: The Top Ten Petitions to the Administration at 'We The People'.
What can we, as the premier progressive blogging site ever, do?
There's now a group, Kossack Initiated White House Petitions. It only has nine members now, none of them front-pagers. Needless to say nine is an almost infinite amount away from 150. And we'd really like some front page support!
But in order to make a difference -- in order to make our petitions visible with 150 signatures so they have a chance of reaching the 5000 threshold, the threshold that the Administration says they will respond in a serious way if reached -- we need hundreds of Kossacks to create and sign serious progressive petitions that the Administration could take action on. That means you! You don't have to join the group; you can just follow it if you like. But what you need to do is
Go to 'We The People' and sign up.
Here's the home page.
This diary, UPDATE with Kossack Petitions and Links The Petitions at WhiteHouse dot Gov has a list of many petitions that have been initiated by Kossacks but have, for the most part, failed to reach the 150 threshold. There are URL's there to follow to sign the petitions. You don't have to sign every one. No one's asking you to sign anything you disagree with.
But surely 90% of us can agree on such things as
-- Withdrawing from Afghanistan in a year
-- Adopting the Progress Caucus' Peoples' Budget
-- Increasing the minimum wage
-- Making Social Security solvent
-- A financial transactions tax
So Go to 'We The People' And Sign Up Now
here's the home page.
(Yes, you'll probably get annoying emails asking for money and to volunteer for the Obama campaign. Click the link that tells them not to send you emails any more, then delete them.)
Here's three petitions I'd love to see kickstarted. They are each specific, progressive actions the administration could take, and they will demand a serious response from the administration as to why they would choose not to honor the request if that is their decision.
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Issue an Executive Order barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for federal contractors.
In 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, requiring all defense contracts to include provisions barring private contractors from discrimination as to "race, creed, color or national origin."
We call upon the Administration to issue a similar executive order requiring all federal contracts to include provisions barring private contractors from discrimination with respect to sexual orientation.
URL to sign this petition
There is an existing petition that calls on the Administration to support nationwide employment non-discrimination legislation, which is good. But that proposal is not going to make it through Congress. This is something the Administration can do alone.
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Ask Congress to increase the age limit to 30 for young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance.
Currently, young adults less than 26 years old are allowed to enroll in or stay on their parents' health insurance because of the PPACA, the new health care law. This has resulted in a large increase in the number of young adults covered by health insurance in the United States.
The Administration should ask Congress to increase this age limit to 30 years, thereby allowing young adults who would otherwise be disenrolled when they reach 26 to keep their insurance, and allowing more young adults to have insurance.
URL to sign this petition
This is something Congress must do, but unless the Administration requests it, will never consider. Yet it would be incredibly popular and should have no opposition -- there's no cost to the government -- aside from the most partisan of partisan Republicans who will simply vote down anything the Administration requests.
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Create a program to assume the mortgage debt of homeowners who are underwater, allowing them to sell their homes.
We need to help homeowners to kickstart an economic recovery, just as the government helped the automobile industry and the banks. The Administration should propose a program that works like this: If your house is worth $150,000 and your mortgage is $200,000, allow the house to be sold for $150,000, with $50,000 paid by the government and owed by the former homeowner to the government -- to be paid off over 20 years via an additional income tax assessment of $2500/yr, plus a small interest payment.
This gets a homeowner out of an impossible situation, maintains his credit rating and, because the money will eventually be paid back, is of small long-term cost to the government.
URL to sign this petition
This is a petition designed to throw an idea out there, and get the Administration to think about it or something similar. There efforts so far to address the housing crisis have been abysmal failures. They need new ideas.
So Go to 'We The People' And Sign Up Now
here's the home page.