Missouri is among the states that has filed a petition with the White House to secede from the United States.
Missouri’s petition is approaching the necessary threshold of 25,000 signatures.
That’s enough John Hancocks for Missouri’s secessionists to receive a response from the White House.
As of Wednesday afternoon, just under 20,000 individuals had signed Missouri’s petition. Many are from out-of-state.
“Obviously, this is never going to happen,” said Southeast Missouri State University political science professor Jeremy Walling.
“The reality is that states are so heavily reliant on federal money and federal program that it would be disastrous for a state to secede from the union,” Walling said.
Walling says people are doing this to show their disapproval with President Barack Obama’s reelection. Signing this petition, he says, is similar to throwing up your hands in exasperation and shouting out “I’m moving to Canada!” when your preferred Presidential candidate loses.
“You look at a state like Missouri. You look at our airports, our highways, the federal programs that we at Southeast Missouri State University get,” Walling said. “The state of Missouri gets intergovernmental transfers from the national government. All of these things stop immediately once we secede from the union.”
Seven states have already received more than 25,000 signatures. Missouri still has until December 10 to do so. The Texas petition exceeded 116,000.
There’s a related petition that requests a national pizza party if Missouri successfully secedes.
The petitions are posted online. It’s part of the President’s “We The People” initiative that was created to give citizens a voice through petitions.