When the White House promised to answer citizen petitions on the most pressing problems of the day, it may not have had extraterrestrial life in mind.
More than 10,000 petitions have poured in since the new initiative was announced last month in a bid to bring government closer to the people. And issues like massive federal deficits, two wars and high unemployment don't appear to be on the people's minds.
One petition wants to legalize raw milk sales. Others seek to mandate the spaying and neutering of pets, abolish the Transportation Security Administration and "formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race."
Stephen Bassett wants to end the "truth embargo," or what he believes is the government's deliberate decision to withhold what it has long known about the existence of extraterrestrial life.
"The fact is that there is an extraterrestrial presence. I know this because I'm familiar with the research and a couple hundred government witnesses have come forward in the last couple years," he said. "Acknowledging this E.T. presence is about open government."
Mr. Bassett decided to post a petition as soon as he heard about the opportunity and immediately sent a link to his 10,000-person email list. He posted to six Facebook pages and his Twitter account and the petition now has more than 9,500 signatories, making it the 20th most popular.
Read more on the "We the People" petition project at the Wall Street Journal.
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