Has a petition ever accomplished anything?

[NightWatcher]

Every day I see a plea to sign a petition for this or that, but I was just curious if a petition has ever worked.

I see the White House even has a page of nothing but petitions.

What has been accomplished by people signing a petition?

[meegbear]

1. How about this one?

[saras]

11. You beat me to it. But it's good to consider what ELSE was required to ENFORCE this.

[dtexdem]

15. Then there was that great letter: the Magna Carta.

;-)

[Uben]

2. CAn you say "RECALL"?

Petitions for recall amounted to the ouster of two republicans in Wisconsin

[MineralMan]

3. Petitions have accomplished both good and bad.

The recalls in Wisconsin and Proposition 8 in California are two examples, respectively.

If you're talking about random Internet petitions, not so much.

[Puzzledtraveller]

4. Blueberry cobbler

Successfully banned from cafeteria menu, Fourth grade, 1983.

[pennylane100]

5. what is wrong with blueberry cobber.?

[Puzzledtraveller]

6. it was only Blueberry cobbler in name

the rest of te story has been sealed away, only under executive privilege can the true story be revealed. All FOIA requests mus be submitted in short hand, on authentic egyptian papyrus and notarized.

[pennylane100]

12. Well as it happens,

many many years ago, in my youth, I learned Pittman shorthand and as soon as I can locate some Egyptian papyrus I will contact you, As a blueberry cobbler lover, I must know the truth.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Yes. Petitiions help solidify movement that eventually change the system.

Abolition of the slave trade was started with petitions in England. Later, the abolition of slavery movement was fueled by petitions.

They have to be put in the context of tactics to achieve an end. The civil rights movement used any number of tactics to achieve their end. The Civil Rights Amendment.
The tactics included petitions, marches, sit ins, lobbying, even (regrettably) violence, until it was successful.

The revolutionaries that founded this nation started off with petitions to the king and parliament not with Concord and Lexington.

[tjwash]

8. Yes...petitions got Ah-nold on the ballot here in cali

x(

We will probably never fiscally recover from that.

[Matariki]

9. Does lots of spam in my inbox count as an accomplishment?

[AngkorWot]

10. I don't know.

But lets all vote for it in online polls until it becomes true.

[onestepforward]

13. Petitions to advertisers helped to get Beck off the air.

His show lost several hundreds of advertisers.

[BrendaBrick]

14. Change.org has some success:

From 7-2011:

Best. Week. Ever. Here's what happened in the last seven days, because Change.org members took action:

1) Ai Weiwei released! A petition started by more than 20 directors of the world's most famous art museums turned into an international movement. 140,000 of us joined the campaign, and on Wednesday the Chinese dissident artist was freed. Weiwei's manager says Change.org members were "amazing" and personally thanked you for the support that helped to lead to his release.

2) Women in Saudi Arabia are driving! Saudi women activists won 3 campaigns on Change.org this week: With your help, they got charges dropped against Manal al-Sharif, who was arrested for driving a car in a country where it's illegal for women to do so. After two more petitions targeting Hillary Clinton and Europe's top ambassador Catharine Ashton, both spoke out forcefully in favor of giving women the right to drive (and Hillary says she only took a public stand because of this campaign!).

3) Sled dogs, saved! After a hundred sled dogs were brutally massacred in British Columbia, Lost actor Ian Somerhalder created a campaign on Change.org to get the province to change its policies governing the treatment of animals. More than 67,000 people signed, and British Columbia just adopted the strongest anti-cruelty laws in all of Canada!

4) Grand Canyon, preserved! With a uranium-mining ban about to expire in the area surrounding the famous U.S. landmark, Arizona resident Suzanne Sparling led the charge to extend it. She collected 50,000 public comments from Change.org members, and last Monday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced his support for another 20-year ban on the dangerous practice.

5) And the Minnesota Twins make 5. To cap it all off, CBS reported on Tuesday that the Minnesota Twins will be the 5th pro baseball team to make an "It Gets Better" video to help prevent suicide by teens who are bullied for being gay. Every team that's made a video (Twins, Red Sox, Cubs, Mariners, and Giants) has done so after a local Change.org member started a petition asking them to. As these victories add up, the cumulative effect is eroding the culture of homophobia in men's pro sports.

We accomplished all this together, but every single campaign began when one person created a petition on Change.org.
Click here to start your own petition now -- our tech team has made it easier than ever.
Let's have another great week.
- Patrick and the Change.org team

P.S. Here's another amazing fact: These are just 5 of the more than 200 campaigns that Change.org members have won in 2011. If there's something you want to change about a policy in your town, a practice by a business, or anything you care about, click here to start your own petition.

More recent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEdeBtDXrVc

More here:

http://www.change.org/victories

So yes, petitions can and do change things.