30 April 2010
What Is the Point of a Petition?
A Petition is not a Referendum. It is not an Election. It is a tool used by persons who wish to influence someone in power (e.g. an employer, the peoples’ representatives in a liberal democracy, a beneficent ruler). Its effectiveness is determined by the respect that someone in power pays to the petition signers.
So anonymity defeats the purpose of a petition. In his OpEd article in the April 28, 2010 Wall Street Journal, “Neighbor Against Neighbor,” Dick Carpenter proposes that the “loads of information” provided by the media and interest groups are sufficient for decision-makers like voters to make up their mind; but how much can they trust those information-sources? Individuals in a society where intermediaries like the left- or right-wing media and lobbying organizations are driven by commercial objectives need a more personal basis for judging the merits of an issue.
Speech is being squelched by the diminishment of civility in modern life. Without the courage of our convictions, there is no hope for democratic government.
A Petition is not a Referendum. It is not an Election. It is a tool used by persons who wish to influence someone in power (e.g. an employer, the peoples’ representatives in a liberal democracy, a beneficent ruler). Its effectiveness is determined by the respect that someone in power pays to the petition signers.
So anonymity defeats the purpose of a petition. In his OpEd article in the April 28, 2010 Wall Street Journal, “Neighbor Against Neighbor,” Dick Carpenter proposes that the “loads of information” provided by the media and interest groups are sufficient for decision-makers like voters to make up their mind; but how much can they trust those information-sources? Individuals in a society where intermediaries like the left- or right-wing media and lobbying organizations are driven by commercial objectives need a more personal basis for judging the merits of an issue.
Speech is being squelched by the diminishment of civility in modern life. Without the courage of our convictions, there is no hope for democratic government.
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