President Obama may have won the election based on electoral college votes and popular votes, but not everyone is happy with him running for four more years. Several states have started petitions to secede from the United States.
Americans from 24 states have taken to the White House website to file petitions of secession. Many of the states are those that have large conservative populations, but some of them might come as a surprise as states that voted for Obama are among those petitioning to secede.
The states that have filed petitions include: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
The petitions were filed to the White House's "We the People" petition website which gives "all Americans a way to engage their government on the issues that matter to them."
According to the website, The White House promises that "If a petition meets the signature threshold, it will be reviewed by the Administration and we will issue a response."
Under this threshold, a petition needs 25,000 signatures in 30 days.
So far, Texas has reached the threshold as the petition has over 37,900 signatures. Louisiana has over 19,000 signatures and has until Dec. 7 to reach the goal. Alabama has over 10,800 signatures and has until Dec. 9 to reach the threshold. Florida has over 11,100 signatures and has until Dec. 10 to reach the threshold.
According to the petition site, Alabama's petition starts off saying "We petition the Obama Administration to peacefully grant the State of Alabama to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own new government." Many other petitions have similar content.
Many of the petitions cite the statement in the Declaration of Independence which reads:
"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government."
If petitions reach the 25,000 signature threshold, the Obama administration must offer a response. It is not likely that these secession requests will be granted though. Similar petitions appeared after the 2004 and 2008 election as well.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
