

Whitehouse responds to Tesla Motors petition - bradly
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/response-we-people-petition-tesla-motors

======
mindcrime
I kinda think petitions.whitehouse.gov should just be shutdown. These things
are a total joke. The responses, when they _do_ respond are almost always
vague, wishy-washy nonsense that barely address the _actual_ point of the
petition, and mostly just turn into a way to praise the administration for
some tangential connections to the issue under discussion. And they don't seem
to respond to the really important ones, or they give some non-response like
"we can't comment on this for reason $FOO".

To be fair to this issue, it is a State level issue and the Feds probably
should stay out of it. But they could have said that, and then comment on
whether or not they would _push_ or _campaign_ for States to allow Tesla
direct sales, and dropped all the rah-rah "pro administration" hand-waving
that made up the bulk of the response.

~~~
anigbrowl
Why would you expect the administration to 'push or campaign' for States to
change their rules like this? That could be a party policy, but not an
administration one. I am at a loss to imagine what legal basis you think the
federal government would have to seek such a policy change.

~~~
mindcrime
_Why would you expect the administration to 'push or campaign' for States to
change their rules like this?_

I would expect them to, iff they thought it was a Good Idea. IOW, if they
actually agree with the idea behind the petition, even if they aren't legally
empowered to _make_ the change, they could do more than hand-wave and issue
vague aphorisms and plug themselves on tangential issues.

 _That could be a party policy, but not an administration one._

The administration is associated with a party, how is this distinction even
relevant?

 _I am at a loss to imagine what legal basis you think the federal government
would have to seek such a policy change._

I don't understand what you're trying to say here. I don't think the Federal
government has any authority to _compel_ anyone to make such a change - but
they don't need any special authority speak out verbally in favor of that
change, and to encourage the respective State leaders to go along. The
respective state leaders, of course, being totally free to ignore that.

Anyway, this whole petition thing is just a waste of time. They don't
accomplish anything, and even if they did, it would be like putting a band-aid
on a guy who's been decapitated. Our government - at all levels - is far too
large, invasive, corrupt and meddlesome. We'd be better off talking about how
to get rid of 90% of all "government" than worrying about the details of how
Tesla's are sold. _shrug_

~~~
tptacek
Because party affiliation is only one of the forces Obama deals with; tensions
between the states, and tensions between the executive and legislative
branches have both been more powerful than the Democratic party during his
administration.

