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It's a useful vehicle for starting the process, bringing attention to the issue, clearly explaining what and why, providing a single point of action for people

It's a useful vehicle for starting the process, bringing attention to the issue, clearly explaining what and why, providing a single point of action for people to focus on, and gauging support. If all that goes well and the petition gets enough signatures and visibility, then that's a good point to segue off into the more difficult organizational problem of getting all those people to actually call their rep. Additionally, the President has to sign such a law eventually anyway, so starting movements with a plea to the President has some benefit in that regard as well.

rprasad 14y ago
It's a useful vehicle for starting the process, bringing attention to the issue, clearly explaining what and why, providing a single point of action for people to focus on, and gauging support. What would be more useful is actually contacting your Congressperson and telling them. If you want you can simply read the petition. But signing this petition won't accomplish anything. If all that goes well and the petition gets enough signatures and visibility, then that's a good point to segue off into the more difficult organizational problem of getting all those people to actually call their rep. Why do you need to organize getting people to call? Just call them. Once you've called them, ask or convince (gently) two other people to call. Critical mass to get the ball rolling is usually about two dozen calls on the same issue (simply because so few people actually bother to use the phone for this anymore).