Every day I receive numerous "Sign the Petition Requests" from one organization or another. Although I support every one of the causes for which these requests are are made, Women's rights, Immigration rights, Gay rights, Voters rights, Equal pay, etc. , I send these requests to junk mail. You know why? The people or organizations to which these requests are sent throw them in the garbage. They don't care what I think.
As a young Chicagoan coming of age in the '60's, I believed in America. I believed in our Government. I voted for the first time in 1964. I was so proud of my self (and still am) when I left the voting booth. Then everything went crazy.
You know the story, Protesters, Flag burnings, Anti-Americanism, Hippies. Martin Luther King, I was annoyed by them all.
Little by little, I changed my mind. I went from being a conservative Democrat to raging Liberal. You know why? People took to the streets in massive demonstrations across the country. They got things done. They opened our eyes to the horrors of the Viet Nam War, the despicable treatment of African Americans, inequality in pay between men and women. The despised Hippies (I'm still angry at how they treated the boys coming home from the war) helped open after school programs, affordable pediatric clinics in neighborhood houses all over the city, helped register thousands of voters, drove them to their polling places on Election day and so on.
That's what you have to do, Petition Requesters. Don't take the easy way to protest with your Iphone or laptop. Take to the streets, show your faces, raises your voices. Mobilize, organize, March on Washington in millions (not hundreds), demonstrate in cities and towns all over the country. Yell at Congress, the Supreme Court, the Mainstream media, the Millionaire Bankers, boycott, occupy, demand.
Come on, channel your inner 1960's and get moving, but don't send me anymore "Sign the Petitions".