Petitions to secede from the union sparks a debate over their true intent.
Though each petition represents one state, anyone living in any state can sign the petitions.
The online petitions gather signatures via the web, asking the President to allow states to secede.
But is this the best way to show discontent with the government?
"Any time you have citizens saying they want to essentially remove themselves from the governance of the federal government, as a political scientist, and as a citizen, I take pause," says William Delehanty, a political science professor at Missouri Southern State University.
Delehanty says discontent is a positive sign.
"My initial inclination is actually to say it's a good thing, in the sense that citizens are actively involved in a process, they are thinking about politics."
25,000 electronic signatures are needed in each of the state petitions before the White House will comment on the petition. Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri have deadlines of December 10 to get those signatures.
However, a state's secession would take much more than a petition.
"It would take an act of a state legislature, in conjunction with a governor, in order to formally secede from the union," says Delehanty.
Delehanty sees the petitions as more of a way to get attention for a cause.
"Understand those motivations, and then dealing with those motivations," he says.
Petitions of seven states already have enough signatures for a White House comment: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina.
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