Relaunch "We the People"

Petitioner not public
Petition is addressed to
Committee on Petitions (Petitionsausschuß)

0 Signatures

Petition process is finished

0 Signatures

Petition process is finished

  1. Launched 2023
  2. Collection finished
  3. Submitted
  4. Dialogue
  5. Finished

Petition addressed to: Committee on Petitions (Petitionsausschuß)

I hereby call upon the Biden administration to relaunch the White-House-Petitioning-System “We the People”.
The first amendment of the US Constitution provides “that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (The Constitution).
While it had its flaws, “We the People” served a valuable purpose - making it easier to use the right to petition! Relaunching the platform should be in the interest of every President of the United States of America, as it brings the first amendment of the US Constitutions back into the digital age and therefore closer to the reality of US citizens.
Successful petitions that reached the threshold of 100.000 signatures within 30 days received an official response from the White House. With the abolition of “We the People” this institutionalized guaranteed official response was taken away. Relaunching the platform would increase accountability of Federal Officials again!
“We the People”, launched September 22, 2011, is a defunct section of the whitehouse.gov website used for petitioning the administration's policy experts. Petitions that reached a certain threshold of signatures were reviewed by Administration officials, who in most instances would subsequently provide an official response. On December 19, 2017, the Trump administration announced its intention to temporarily shut down the website and replace it with a "new platform [that] would save taxpayers more than $1m a year", though ultimately it was retained in its initial form. While the Trump administration did not shut down the website, the Biden administration did. Since the Inauguration Day 20th of January 2021, the link https://petitions.whitehouse.gov to “We The People”, the White House’s official petition site, redirects to the White House website. The petition website has not been restored since!

Reason

In order to strengthen the possibility to address petitions to the corresponding institutions, it is beneficial to have a low threshold. Citizen participation formats such as petitions not only benefit citizens interests, but also state administration. Successful citizen participation may prevent future disputes between the general public and the state, if their interests are being taken into consideration. The ability for citizens to participate in the public policy process also has long been a tradition in the United States. 
President Biden, respect the first amendment of the US Constitution and relaunch “We the People”.

Petition details

Petition started: 03/29/2023
Collection ends: 06/28/2023
Region: European Union
Topic: Civil rights

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