Our government has been corrupted by the domination of concentrated wealth in all aspects of our political processes. We have seen corporations claim human rights to evade public health and safety laws. We have seen a handful of wealthy individuals select primary candidates for the presidency, Congress and state office. We have seen these wealthy interests buy up the media and misrepresent the vital information that We the People need to make informed decisions on election day. Wielding the undue influence of Big Money over elected officials, these special interests damage our ability to protect ourselves, our health, our environment, our livelihood, our retirement security, and our children's ability to gain an education. It is time to restore America's government to all of America's peoples.

As off budget spending, tax exemptions lack the accountability that other state spending undergoes when the state approves its biennial budget. Tax exemptions are expenditures of state money that would otherwise be available to fund state services. Tax exemptions reduce available funds for education, health care and other important state services. Many tax exemptions are actually tax loopholes that benefit special interests but don't meet state priorities for funding. Tuition doubled for my son and daughter between when they started college and graduated. Washington State needs to provide sufficient revenue to keep college affordable for all students so we have an educated workforce for the future. Washington State currently has over 650 tax exemptions. According to the State Department of Revenue in the last biennium, while Washington State collected some $21 billion in B&O, sales and use taxes, it excluded from collection over $20 billion in tax exemptions. The system is broken when if everyone paid the same in taxes, the state would have twice as much revenue.. Requiring that the Washington State Legislature adopt a Tax Expenditure Budget every two years as part of the biennial budget process would make tax exemptions more transparent and accountable to Washington taxpayers. The Legislature needs to prioritize tax exemptions and close tax loopholes not meeting state needs. Creating a Tax Expenditure Budget detailing the tax expenditures (exemptions) and the amount of revenue the Legislature is not collecting, will help Legislators to prioritize closing tax loopholes not meeting state priorities and needs. Petition by Steve Zemke, Director Tax Sanity www.taxsanity.org

Benjamin Franklin is attributed with saying: "If we can keep them asking the wrong questions, we'll never have to worry about the answers". Those who would argue against a carbon tax will tell you that it would kill jobs, crash the economy or ruin our trade opportunities. Only we can decide what we want the future to look like and what the inheritance we'll leave our children will be. Will we be remembered for our creativity or our destructiveness? Science has informed us that by the year 2047 we will have created an inhospitable climate, we can't wait to for business decisions to catch up with science. We must act now.

My name is Brad and I live in Seattle, Washington. Here in Washington State we have laws that protect Lesbian, Gay, Bi, and Transgender people from workplace discrimination. However, In 29 other states, including my home state of Tennessee, people are fired everyday simply because of how they identify or who they love. In Congress the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has been proposed every year since 2007, but for nearly 7 years now Congress has failed to act. It’s time to put an end to workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Currently, there is a bill in both houses of Congress, and it's already out of committee and ready for a vote in the Senate. That's where you come in! Not every bill actually makes it to the Senate floor for a vote, but with your help, we can demand that this bill gets a vote. Please stand with me and millions of LGBT Americans in asking Congress to pass the Senate Bill S. 815, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act today. Great News! The Senate Listened, and passed the Employment Nondiscrimination Act on November 7th, 2013. Here's a link to my new petition asking John Boehner to let the House vote for ENDA: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/speaker-boehner-protect

In Washington State, the middle class and poor pay a higher percentage of their income in state taxes than do the rich, due to a reliance on the regressive sales tax to fund state government. Even the Business and Occupation tax is regressive: it taxes revenue, not profit, and so it favors profitable corporations over struggling small businesses. Another cause of unfairness is the existence of tax loopholes for certain wealthy corporations. In fact, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Washington State has the most regressive tax system in the nation. The poorest 20% of non-elderly Washingtonians pay 17% of their income in state taxes; the richest 1% pay under 3% of their income in state taxes. (Source: http://www.itep.org/pdf/wa.pdf .) The state desperately needs a reliable source of funds to pay for education pursuant to the State Supreme Court decision in the McCleary case, which declares that the legislature is underfunding K-12 education. Additionally, in recent years the state has had to slash funding for social services and for higher education, causing real suffering among vulnerable people, threatening our prosperity and safety, and drastically raising the cost of a college education. Voters in 2010 rejected I-1098, the initiative to establish a high earners' income tax in Washington State. Most voters were voting against their own self-interest, because only the richest 2% of citizens would have seen their taxes rise. But up until now, only a few advocacy groups have spoken up about this issue. Our political leaders should make the effort to educate the public about all the ways we need government and about progressive taxation. In other words, our political leaders should actually lead and not just follow. There are proposals afloat to raise the gas tax and to pass a carbon tax; both of those are regressive. A capital gains tax and a tax expenditure budget are also under consideration. These changes to our tax system deserve thorough discussion and analysis. The proposed high level commission, hearings, speeches and essays will help move the state towards a sustainable and equitable funding model. Note: this petition was co-authored with Steve Zemke of TaxSanity.org . For discussion of this effort, please visit: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/wafairtaxes http://fairtaxesnow.us/ To see the list of signers and their comments, please visit: http://waliberals.org/WATaxFixers.html Here is a resolution which your political organization might pass: http://waliberals.org/resolution-in-support-of-fixing-washington-states-unfair-tax-system/2013/11/19/

I was offended at being asked to support an anti-choice charity, also known for it's questionable financial management.

This is a catastrophe for the Japanese people and potentially for the rest of the world, certainly for those who border the Pacific Ocean. We must help the Japanese prevent a worse disaster.

Tier II members are being robbed by the Legislature. They are paying more for their benefits that their benefits are worth. If this problem is not addressed, our pension systems could loose their tax exempt status and members' salaries would be subject to Social Security Withholding as well as Retirement System contributions.

I'm starting this petition because the evidence is there that provides justification and clarity that this is simply not a state's issue. In time, all states will have marriage equality for all loving couples. The federal government is already recognizing same-sex couples by way of the benefits it has already authorized. States or people living in those states are being given the power to choose for others for what is already a constitutional right. It is appalling to me that unreasonable people are being given this power. It's time to recognize that a constitutional right should not be in the hands of unreasonable public officials or unreasonable citizens who don't agree with someone else's definition of love and marriage. Thank you, Jimmy - National Coalition for Marriage Equality.

Hydraulic fracking has terrible environmental consequences: depletion of fresh water, adverse effect on agriculture, inducing silicosis in workers involved in fracking process, releasing toxic substances into the air, admixture of radioactive cancer inducing radon with the extracted natural gas, and also inducing earthquakes. Even more seriously, fracking releases into the atmosphere green house gas methane (major component of natural gas) which is 100 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20 year period in destabilizing the climate resiliency. Ensure no public funds are used to finance any further fracking for natural gas on federal lands.

Many of us have married friends or family who are impacted by federal and state tax laws and other benefits. Same-sex couples can legally marry in 14 states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. ALL families should be able to have access to the same benefits. This is coming up for a vote in November. Please sign this petition urging our legislators to do the right thing. Vote for marriage equality.

This document was reviewed during the Reagan administration and signed by President Clinton, but never ratified by the U.S. Senate. One hundred ninety-three members of the United Nations have ratified this treaty. Only Somalia, South Sudan and the United States have not! What an embarrassment for our country -- the country of the document’s origin! Join the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) in support of assuring rights for every child.