Save Social Security $Billions

1. To serve as a backup in case >>>>>the original fails to reach the 100,000 goal in time. This one will then be left open until it attains that signature total, at which time a new petition will be submitted to the Trump Administration. And following that, all signatories to this petition will be alerted by email so that they can sign the new one.

2. To provide more extensive background information than can be included in the extremely limited space provided at the White House petition site. This petition, after all, is seeking a radical change in the way that Congress operates. So it's not likely that most people will be willing to support it without taking the time to develop a much fuller understanding of this issue.

Before providing more background information on legislative branch e-petitions systems around the world, however, I think it's important to take a look at the one currently being operated by our federal government's executive branch. President Obama provided us with a number of innovative ways to make our voices heard in our nation's capital, but most of them were not retained by President Trump. Fortunately, the one major exception has been his We the People petition site, where "Anyone 13 or older can create or sign a petition," And where any petition that acquires "100,000 signatures within 30 days" is assured of a response.

Unfortunately, responses from the Trump Administration thus far have been relatively brief and evasive. Especially so in comparison to those from officials in the Obama Administration. But don't let that discourage you from utilizing this powerful means of making your voices heard. First of all, because (as this study from the Pew Research Center revealed) some of the petitions submitted to the Obama Administration were quite successful. This one in particular. Here's what its author, Sina Khanifar, had to say about it:

"This is a big victory for consumers, and I'm glad to have played a part in it. A lot of people reacted skeptically when I originally started the petition, with lots of comments to the effect of 'petitions don't do anything.' The optimist in me is really glad to have proved them wrong. The White House just showed that they really do listen, and that they're willing to take action."

Secondly, because most of what has been submitted to the Trump Administration thus far has been either very antagonistic (like this one), or has asked them to support policies that their previous statements or actions indicated they would likely oppose (like this one). So if we limit ourselves to submitting petitions that President Trump and members of his administration won't instinctively disagree with, and we do so in a respectful manner, we just might be pleasantly surprised with the results.

And lastly, because it gives those who are still too young to vote the opportunity to learn by doing that elections are not the only means we have of making our voices heard. That's extremely important because our country's high schools have been failing to provide most of us with an adequate education in government and civics ever since the 1960s.

Although the situation has improved since the above 2011 video, especially here in Florida, our country still has a long way to go. And that's why I think it's so important that we encourage our country's youth to take part in doing such things as writing petitions to the White House and Congress.

And the results might wind up surprising a lot of us who were poorly educated in history, government, and civics. I say that because, as an historian at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History recently reminded us, our country's youth have "helped save democracy" before. And "If anyone should be choosing the issues in politics, it should be the young, for they have a longer future to provide for."