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Indeed, I remember signing this back then. White House seems to be dodging responses to certain petitions that have received enough signatures: http://www.washi

Indeed, I remember signing this back then. White House seems to be dodging responses to certain petitions that have received enough signatures: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/13/here-are-the-30-questions-the-white-house-doesnt-want-to-answer/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/08/13...

cheald 12y ago
Has Obama's White House ever responded significantly to any petition made through that system? It's a pressure valve designed to bleed off discontent, not an actual channel for affecting change.
- yoyar 12y ago
  ^ This
- lambdapower 12y ago
  My favorite petition came right after a few of the early responses, titled "We demand a vapid, condescending, meaningless, politically safe response to this petition." I can't find it on the petition site anymore.
  - McDoku 12y ago
    Can you really blame the guy for being politically safe? I know it sucks but it is a war of inches. Things change with the backing of the people. The Republicans know this well and uses that reaction. They are fundamentally populist (whether you agree with them or not, they have skill here). Absolute justice gives way to a triage. Fundamentally with out that triage nothing gets treated. It is an unfortunate reality. It will only change, if how we work is rethought. These are the scope of the actions available in our game. The pattern has been replicated consistently through similar models in history. It could very easily become robbing Peter to pay Paul. *edit Getting downvote....sigh.... I realize it is an unpopular opinion but it is a consistent pattern for republics through out human history. Please offer me a counter example to facilitate debate if you disagree.
    - autokad 12y ago
      i disagree. for one thing, he's in his 2nd term, there is no 'war of inches' to lose. when he has a political agenda, nothing stops him from shoving it through no matter what. for stuff he cares two licks about but knows his voters care about, he just retorts 'the republicans wont let me'.
      - McDoku 12y ago
        Would it not be irresponsible to poison the political landscape for the next candidate?
        thaumaturgy 12y ago
        He already has; odds are that he has sunk any chances of a Democratic presidential victory in 2016. A significant portion of the base that rallied for his presidency two terms in a row are disillusioned with the government they got.
        JetSpiegel 12y ago
        I thought Nobel prize winners should be willing to make sacrifices for the common good.
        McDoku 12y ago
        That statement cuts both ways... If it is a choice between good and evil, the obvious moral choice is good. It is only a moral decision when it is between two evils. Determining the lesser and potentially sacrificing for the common good. This the primary responsibly of any leader responsible for strategic decision making. As you said, this means making sacrifices for the common good.
        MCRed 12y ago
        No, good and evil are clear choices. Irradiating the flying public, taking pornographic pictures or molesting children are all evil, and Obama could have stopped that. Domestic spying, Obama could have stopped it. Hell closing guantanamo, he didn't even do that. And that's a straight up operation in violation of the constitution top to bottom. We may have the choice between two evils at election time, but no politician is forced to choose evil.
- ninguem2 12y ago
  I think the criticism that they don't normally respond to petitions is valid so I don't really want to point this out but they did respond to the petition to allow cellphone unlocking and that has affected change. Of course, the petition wasn't the only cause of the change.
  - cheald 12y ago
    That's actually really interesting. The cynic in me wants to say "well, it was happening anyhow, so they capitalized on it", but I wonder how much of an impact that petition actually had.
    - bjelkeman-again 12y ago
      It is the type of thing a politician gets irritated too by and it isn't really controversial from the voters point of view, so it gets done. In the EU the politicians at EU level pushed through max roaming charges for SMS messages, whilst leaving data roaming rates ludicrously high. My take on it was that the politicians weren't using data so they only dealt with what was painful for them on an individual level.
    - McDoku 12y ago
      Mountains of data analysis and it probably influences the polling. I mean it also likely gets read and discussed. Whether it is a political realistic or not is another matter entirely.
jbuzbee 12y ago
The administration only responds to trivial petitions or petitions that already side with their policy. Typical. Obama claims that his is the "Most transparent administration ever" http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283335-obama-this-is-the-most-transparent-administration-in-history http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283335-obam... Journalists loudly disagree: http://gazette.com/journalists-criticize-white-house-for-secrecy/article/feed/158510 http://gazette.com/journalists-criticize-white-house-for-sec...
- freakonom 12y ago
  You could actually argue that handling of these petitions is very transparent: petition text goes in, petition text comes out, and there's a null transform in the middle.

cheald 12y ago

Has Obama's White House ever responded significantly to any petition made through that system? It's a pressure valve designed to bleed off discontent, not an actual channel for affecting change.

yoyar 12y ago
^ This
lambdapower 12y ago
My favorite petition came right after a few of the early responses, titled "We demand a vapid, condescending, meaningless, politically safe response to this petition." I can't find it on the petition site anymore.
- McDoku 12y ago
  Can you really blame the guy for being politically safe? I know it sucks but it is a war of inches. Things change with the backing of the people. The Republicans know this well and uses that reaction. They are fundamentally populist (whether you agree with them or not, they have skill here). Absolute justice gives way to a triage. Fundamentally with out that triage nothing gets treated. It is an unfortunate reality. It will only change, if how we work is rethought. These are the scope of the actions available in our game. The pattern has been replicated consistently through similar models in history. It could very easily become robbing Peter to pay Paul. *edit Getting downvote....sigh.... I realize it is an unpopular opinion but it is a consistent pattern for republics through out human history. Please offer me a counter example to facilitate debate if you disagree.
  - autokad 12y ago
    i disagree. for one thing, he's in his 2nd term, there is no 'war of inches' to lose. when he has a political agenda, nothing stops him from shoving it through no matter what. for stuff he cares two licks about but knows his voters care about, he just retorts 'the republicans wont let me'.
    - McDoku 12y ago
      Would it not be irresponsible to poison the political landscape for the next candidate?
      - thaumaturgy 12y ago
        He already has; odds are that he has sunk any chances of a Democratic presidential victory in 2016. A significant portion of the base that rallied for his presidency two terms in a row are disillusioned with the government they got.
      - JetSpiegel 12y ago
        I thought Nobel prize winners should be willing to make sacrifices for the common good.
        McDoku 12y ago
        That statement cuts both ways... If it is a choice between good and evil, the obvious moral choice is good. It is only a moral decision when it is between two evils. Determining the lesser and potentially sacrificing for the common good. This the primary responsibly of any leader responsible for strategic decision making. As you said, this means making sacrifices for the common good.
        MCRed 12y ago
        No, good and evil are clear choices. Irradiating the flying public, taking pornographic pictures or molesting children are all evil, and Obama could have stopped that. Domestic spying, Obama could have stopped it. Hell closing guantanamo, he didn't even do that. And that's a straight up operation in violation of the constitution top to bottom. We may have the choice between two evils at election time, but no politician is forced to choose evil.
ninguem2 12y ago
I think the criticism that they don't normally respond to petitions is valid so I don't really want to point this out but they did respond to the petition to allow cellphone unlocking and that has affected change. Of course, the petition wasn't the only cause of the change.
- cheald 12y ago
  That's actually really interesting. The cynic in me wants to say "well, it was happening anyhow, so they capitalized on it", but I wonder how much of an impact that petition actually had.
  - bjelkeman-again 12y ago
    It is the type of thing a politician gets irritated too by and it isn't really controversial from the voters point of view, so it gets done. In the EU the politicians at EU level pushed through max roaming charges for SMS messages, whilst leaving data roaming rates ludicrously high. My take on it was that the politicians weren't using data so they only dealt with what was painful for them on an individual level.
  - McDoku 12y ago
    Mountains of data analysis and it probably influences the polling. I mean it also likely gets read and discussed. Whether it is a political realistic or not is another matter entirely.

jbuzbee 12y ago

The administration only responds to trivial petitions or petitions that already side with their policy. Typical. Obama claims that his is the "Most transparent administration ever" http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283335-obama-this-is-the-most-transparent-administration-in-history http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283335-obam... Journalists loudly disagree: http://gazette.com/journalists-criticize-white-house-for-secrecy/article/feed/158510 http://gazette.com/journalists-criticize-white-house-for-sec...

freakonom 12y ago
You could actually argue that handling of these petitions is very transparent: petition text goes in, petition text comes out, and there's a null transform in the middle.