Petition to secede gains names

In the wake of President Barack Obama’s re-election, all 50 states have filed “secession petitions” to the White House’s official petition Website, We The People, including one from Montana that had 13,253 signatures Monday, Nov. 19.

“Scott E,” a user reportedly from Columbia Falls, started the petition Nov. 10. In it, Scott E feels that Montana should separate from the union, and then ends with a quote from Benjamin Franklin.

“We the people of the great state of Montana, do see that in today’s world the federal government has not led our citizens justly and with honor,” the petition begins. “We therefore as free men and women of our great state do believe that it is time to take matter upon ourselves to ensure our continued freedom, and to enact our own laws and here by govern ourselves without the federal government’s involvement in our internal matters from this day forward.”

 The petitions are not legally binding in any way, but are an attention-getting form of protest that some media outlets decry as a knee-jerk reaction to President Obama’s second term.

Texas leads the charge, with more than 115,000 signatures, well over the 25,000 signatures required to receive a formal response from the White House. 

Texas has a population of 25.67 million, making the petitions equal four-tenths of a percent of the population. 

Montana’s population of 998,199 means the signatures represent 1.3 percent of the state.

However, many signatures currently on the ballot are actually from out-of-state signers.

State representatives Mike Cuffe and Jerry Bennett, when reached for comment, said they hadn’t heard much about the petition.