This morning right as I woke up, I was thinking of his case. I wasn't sure what had all been done when Obama was president, but the assumption was that there had been a petition. Is there one for Trump though? After researching it this morning, I don't believe there is.
I did find a recent and excellent article written by Robert Wenzel on December 26th. Within it he calls for libertarians to take action and request Trump's pardon of Ross Ulbricht:
There is no reason for Trump to listen to me. I didn't support him, but "Libertarians for Trump" is a different story. They should make some noise about getting Ulbricht out of prison, then maybe at least one good thing will come out of the Trump presidency.
My father, throughout my early childhood, repeatedly told me, "you have to ask to receive." It is a shame that we have to ask the president to fix an injustice, but we must. We have to ask those with the power to do what we need done, and Trump has that power.
There has been a request that failed with Obama, but Trump is an entrepreneur. He will better understand Ross's position and hopefully use his power to free him. It may not be today, and it may be at the end of his term. Regardless, we should do what we can and ask.
I propose then that we get together and write a formal petition for the Petition the White House webpage. There are many people on here who know more about the case than I do. Together we should be able to produce a well written petition and get it live on the site.
There are countless libertarians, liberty lovers, and Liberty Professionals here on Steemit. From this site alone, the petition should have 100,000 signatures.
Ross was recently transferred to a maximum security prison, where some of the most violent prisoners are kept. He has no history of violence and should not have been transferred there.
He is in a dangerous place and needs our help to free him. I will do what I can to help, and I know my friends will too.
The payout for this post will go to his legal defense fund.
Certainly an interesting topic and article @Finnian I can't understand why he would be in maximum security based on the information I've read on your links, 27 years is ridiculous on the basis of your links > and I'm sure you are right Trump would take a different view versus Obama. Thanks for sharing thought provoking content!
Huh? My upvote is just sittin' there spinning!? I'll check back on it later. Not sure why it does this from time to time?
Mine will get stuck too. Glitches in the matrix! ;-) It will eventually register. haha
Here is a sad truth I learned from my foray into politics... Do not waste your time on petitions. Most people sign one, then get a warm fuzzy about standing up for a cause and that is the last time they think about it. Be honest - have you EVER followed up on any petitions you signed? Politicians have a formula they follow to know when to take a complaint seriously. First, can you vote for them? Talking to politicians who will not be on your ballot is pissing into the wind.
If you email a politician, they assume you are irritated but got it off your chest, and that abot 10 people feel the same way but were too lazy to even email. Next, if you make a phone call, they assume you are irritated but now you got it off your chest. They assume roughly 100 people feel the same way but did not bother to call. If you sent a hand written letter, it is about like a phone call.
Want to get their attention? There is only one thing they take seriously. Humans in their face. If you are irritated enough to come to their office, they assume another 1000 people feel the way you do, and they worry that YOU MIGHT GET THEM RILED UP. They worry that you will find even TEN of them, and show up in their office with a camera running and asking them hard questions... That is bad PR, that is a potentially viral video, and that could mean that thousands and thousands of people are getting upset with them.
So, knowing what they fear most... Do not email, do not call, do not write letters. Get ten friends and show up at their office. For Ross, you need to go to your Senator and Congressman. Try to schedule a meeting, be very polite and professional. Then show up with a small crowd.
A coordinated effort to have this happen on the same day all across the nation might actually get Ross out.
Senators and congress people do not have the power to pardon him. They will certainly not care.
Having a petition on the site gets the world out, and it would keep people's attention on his cause. I worry that people are forgetting that he's still locked up in a cage. Yes, it may get ignored, but it would take an hour's work to get it done. There's very little to lose, right?
I'm not sure how best to keep his issue alive and in the face of politicians, but we should be doing everything we can, right? Whether people here support the idea or not, I'll drive forward and get it done. :)
Congressman and Senators can pressure Trump to do it far more effectively than us little people can. And I have spent too much time doing ineffective things, to be honest. If I don't see a possible course to success, I am not going to play. Sorry, I spent WAYYYYY too much time waving signs at people and standing on the steps of empty offices in "protests" that achieved nothing.
If you want to get to Trump directly, you need to work on your "7 degrees of connection." Unless you have some plan to get MILLIONS of people to contact Trump in a very short time frame, you are just one more gnat buzzing around his head.
I am, sorry, I do NOT mean to piss in your wheaties AT ALL. I am about EFFECTIVE political action though, not "feel good" political theater.
Interesting, there was a big documentary about this guy the other night. Perhaps he could be considered a non-violent misunderstood entrepreneur except for his attempts to have someone murdered by a hitman. He thought he had this guy killed:
You believed what you saw in the documentary?
It didn't take the jury 3 hours to return a guilty verdict?
Up voted for your cause!
Thank you! I was surprised to find no current petition for this too, unless I've missed it somehow.
Upvoted, but please note that Trump has been ignoring that White House Petitions site.
Thanks. If you read the one article by Mr. Wenzel, you will see that a guy, who didn't deserve it, just had his sentence commuted by Trump. I'll have to look into how that was presented to the president. Maybe it was simply a whisper in his ear by some other power player though.
It almost certainly is a "whisper". Trump doesn't do much thinking, except for what Trump wants.
The pay out was $71 USD worth, so I sent the fund $100 USD.