A petition is ostensibly a show of mass support for a course of action someone else is supposed to take.
In practice they are often used to make a statement more so than to catalyze action. Generally though a petition is dressed up to appear as a request or demand for action.
This petition doesn’t have the usual dressing. The tagline ‘Tell Obama “I told you so” by signing the petition below!’ really lays it out.
A signatory gets to stick it to the man and tell Obama “I told you so – My perspective was correct and I hold you in contempt”. In the process they commit themselves to the text of the petition – they have committed themselves to the belief/rhetoric that S&P warned of a downgrade unless there was a $4 trillion budget cut. This is unreal: S&P warned of a downgrade unless the projected growth of spending minus projected growth of taxation over ten years decreased by $4 trillion. Both Obama and House Republicans produced S&P approvable plans to avoid downgrade that the other party rejected. Neither produced a plan to actually cut spending by $4 trillion from current spending levels.
What happens when you are confronted by reality but you have already signed a petition against it?
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What happens when you are confronted by reality but you have already signed a petition against it?
You change your name to Grover Norquist.