Secession Petitions: We the People of 20 States Want Out After Obama Victory >>Hollywood

In the wake of the 2012 presidential election results, thousands of Americans have signed petitions seeking permission for their states to secede from the United States.

The petitions were hilariously filed on We the People, a government website.

Of all the petitions, Texas (above) has the most signatures with 25,000-plus.

Oddly, several petitions come from states won by President Barack Obama.

Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia (twice), Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have all sent requests.

The petitions to secede are mostly short and to the point.

For example, Tennessee's reads: "Peacefully grant the State of Tennessee to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government."

Others complain of "blatant abuses" of Americans' rights; the last time states actually broke free of the union, of course, a Civil War broke out.

Here in 2012, this is mostly a symbolic gesture.

There's no conceivable way these petitions actually result in the secession of any states. Still, the amount of signatures could warrant a response.

If they are signed by 25,000 people in a month, they will require an official response from the Obama administration. From the We the People site:

"The right to petition your government is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. We created We the People because we want to hear from you."

"We the People provides a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country."

"If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure it's sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response."

Well played, sec