Just days after President Barack Obama was reelected for his second term,
petitions began appearing online for states to secede from the union, and have been rising rapidly.
According to an analysis
conducted by The Daily Caller, more than 675,000 digital signatures on 69 different secession petitions for all 50 states were present on the White House’s “We the People” online petition system. And the signatures are accruing at an exponential rate.
The petition for Texas to secede has, by far, the most signatures with 94,700 as of Wednesday morning. Despite the rapidly growing number of people signing the petition,
Texas Governor Rick Perry does not support the movement.
"Gov. Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it," his press secretary wrote in a statement to CNN. "But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government."
According to White House policy on the digital petitions, it will give each with more than 25,000 signatures a legitimate consideration. Though in the case of secession, it remains to be seen how seriously the petitions are taken by the federal government.
Other states that have gathered enough signatures for consideration are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Other types of petitions began popping up shortly after in opposition to the secession petitions. One that has so far gathered 16,218 signatures reads: “Mr. President, please sign an executive order such that each American citizen who signed a petition from any state to secede from the USA shall have their citizenship stripped and be peacefully deported.”
"The Internet allows you to find like-minded people. And in this faceless anonymity, you can egg each other on," Andrew Shankman, an associate professor of history at Rutgers-Camden,
told Philly.com. "It doesn't take much to sign a petition." The secession petitions are "not a serious political proposal," he said. "This is the last expression of rage because [the petitioners] didn't get what they wanted on Election Day. They're sounding off."