We the People, a government site that is designed to give American citizens access to petitions and causes relevant to themselves, has sparked a lot more interest than they originally anticipated.
"When we launched We the People, none of us knew how popular it would be, but it's exceeded our wildest expectations. Through the past year, interest in We the People exploded and we're closing in on 10 million signatures." Macon Phillips, White House Director of Digital Strategy wrote.
The previous number of signatures required was only 25,000, and in the last two months of 2012 about 73,000 petitions were created on line. It became evident that the 25,000 mark was far too low for an official response, when such petitions as making a trillion dollar coin or getting certain church organisations to be marked as hate groups started nearing the mark. Some of the more bizarre ones even made it past it, one in particular was for the government to secure funding and resources to begin construction of a working Death Star in 2016.
The Death Star petition reached over 30,000 signatures, and was responded to with the following from Paul Shawcross, the head of the White House Budget Office's Science and Space branch.
"The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $US 850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it. The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defence, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. The Administration does not support blowing up planets."
-Welsh 17/01/13
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment