The Right to Petition

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The right to petition is protected by the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

In the United States the right to petition is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the federal constitution, which specifically prohibits Congress from abridging "the right of the people...to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Although often overlooked in favor of other more famous freedoms, and sometimes taken for granted,[1] many other civil liberties are enforceable against the government only by exercising this basic right.[2] The right to petition is a fundamental in a representative democracy, such as the United States, as a means of protecting public participation in government.[1]

A redress of grievances. Exactly what is that?

More than a cathartic attempt at complaining, it is a mechanism for change. But we Americans, are fast becoming "Riders of the Purple Wage", state controlled, consumer oriented, inarticulate and ignorant. Give us our government paid for cell phone, our FB account, Google access, Black Friday at WalMart, spittle spewing pundits who tell us what to think, factory farmed raised and slaughtered beef, ah, sorry, I meant "harvested" and a triple wide chair for our fat asses. Ah .. life will be good, I guess. All we need is that fornixator thingy (Philip Jose Farmer) to complete our vapid, self centered lives.

The White House has just made a mockery of this First Amendment right. But, read the fine print, "If a petition meets the signature threshold, it will be reviewed by the Administration and an official response will be issued. They did NOT promise change, only review. Well, we had to try, didn't we, even while knowing we would get snookered in the process?

Mr. President, what you have done is act like the classroom snitch. If we tell you what the problem is, you turn around and pass it along to the very person that has been tripping us in the hallway, bullying us in private and tormenting our friends. You think you've created some great mechanism of democracy, reinvigorated your vapid campaign promise, and given people a way to initiate change, when you've just officially put this obscure, but very basic, First Amendment right on life support. Thanks, Mr. President. Your attempt at engaging the public in an exercise of our First Amendment rights officially sucks and here's why.

Abbey's response to petition for reform of Wild Horse and Burro program, or the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This was like petitioning Prince John and getting a response from the Sherif of Nottingham. What should we have expected? Something different?

I wonder how many other petitioners are just as disgusted as I am?