Whitehouse responds to Tesla Motors petition | Hacker News Reader

Whitehouse responds to Tesla Motors petition

petitions.whitehouse.gov

8 pointsbradly5 comments

I kinda think petitions.whitehouse.gov should just be shutdown. These things are a total joke. The responses, when they do respond are almost always vague, wishy-washy nonsense that barely address the actual point of the petition, and mostly just turn into a way to praise the administration for some tangential connections to the issue under discussion. And they don't seem to respond to the really important ones, or they give some non-response like "we can't comment on this for reason $FOO".

To be fair to this issue, it is a State level issue and the Feds probably should stay out of it. But they could have said that, and then comment on whether or not they would push or campaign for States to allow Tesla direct sales, and dropped all the rah-rah "pro administration" hand-waving that made up the bulk of the response.

Why would you expect the administration to 'push or campaign' for States to change their rules like this? That could be a party policy, but not an administration one. I am at a loss to imagine what legal basis you think the federal government would have to seek such a policy change.

Why would you expect the administration to 'push or campaign' for States to change their rules like this?

I would expect them to, iff they thought it was a Good Idea. IOW, if they actually agree with the idea behind the petition, even if they aren't legally empowered to make the change, they could do more than hand-wave and issue vague aphorisms and plug themselves on tangential issues.

That could be a party policy, but not an administration one.

The administration is associated with a party, how is this distinction even relevant?

I am at a loss to imagine what legal basis you think the federal government would have to seek such a policy change.

I don't understand what you're trying to say here. I don't think the Federal government has any authority to compel anyone to make such a change - but they don't need any special authority speak out verbally in favor of that change, and to encourage the respective State leaders to go along. The respective state leaders, of course, being totally free to ignore that.

Anyway, this whole petition thing is just a waste of time. They don't accomplish anything, and even if they did, it would be like putting a band-aid on a guy who's been decapitated. Our government - at all levels - is far too large, invasive, corrupt and meddlesome. We'd be better off talking about how to get rid of 90% of all "government" than worrying about the details of how Tesla's are sold. shrug

Because party affiliation is only one of the forces Obama deals with; tensions between the states, and tensions between the executive and legislative branches have both been more powerful than the Democratic party during his administration.

petitions.whitehouse.gov is one of the worst offenders of feel-good, "transparency bro", pretend to listen to the voice of the people, do nothing, words speak louder than actions fluff politics the government has ever foisted off on the public. It should not only be shut down but burned to the ground and the people who though it was a good idea should feel bad about it.

...why no, the lack of caffiene in my day hasn't affected my usual cheerful mental attitude today. Why do you ask?

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