

Overturn laws that limit auto manufacturers from selling their vehicles directly - tmoretti
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/overturn-franchise-laws-limit-auto-manufacturers-selling-their-vehicles-directly-consumers/rlShbLzr

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afarrell
Like many petitions on We The People, the executive hasn't the power to do
what this proposes. The president simply doesn't have the power to rewrite
state laws. The judiciary could questionably overturn state laws as
overreaching into interstate commerce, but even that requires a case. I'm sure
if Tesla believed that it was worth it, they would be bring such litigation.
So, I'm curious what impact a petition like this has on the various actors who
have the power to do something: state and federal legislators. Given that
there is no way for a legislator to tell how many people in their district
support a petition, I would guess very little.

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btilly
The executive does not have that power, but if Congress should pass a law
regulating it, I'm pretty sure that Congress can override state commerce laws.
Doubly so if the commercial transaction counts as interstate (as would happen
if you bought the car on the manufacturer's website).

However that said, even if this passed, every manufacturer is so embedded in
its web of dealers that any move to reconsider that relationship would cause a
lot of conflict. In fact fear of that exact conflict is how we got the state
laws in the first place.

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traeblain
Actually Congress cannot pass a law regulating it per the 10th amendment. They
can pass laws governing other things that effectively regulate this--often by
withholding federal funds from states that do not comply--but have no power
over this specific issue.

If Musk wants the US Congress to interfere, maybe he should sell liquor in the
most lavish and expensive and functional "bottle case" ever conceived. But
selling liquor in a car "case" might not be the best PR move. hehe.

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bradleyjg
That may be a plausible reading of the commerce clause in conjunction with the
10th amendment, but it is not the one currently in force.

In cases such as _Wikard v Filburn_ and _Raich v Gonzalez_ , the Supreme Court
has held that Comgresses power to regulate extends to any activity which, in
the aggregate, substantially effects interstate commerce. Such a test is
trivially met by state laws forbidding the sale of automobiles directly from
manufacturers to the public.

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hiharryhere
Interestingly there was a great podcast on archaic dealership laws on NPR's
Planet Money in February. Worth a listen for some context.

[http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/02/12/171814201/episode-...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/02/12/171814201/episode-435-why-
buying-a-car-is-so-awful)

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joelrunyon
Is it me or are these petitions almost worse than doing nothing? These
petitions show over & over again that they don't actually do anything to
change policies.

It's almost like a release valve so people feel like they're being democratic
without even really doing anything at all.

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stormbrew
In what way is any of that worse than doing nothing at all?

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whatshisface
It's easier to "sign" an online petition than to send a letter to one of your
representatives, if people click once and then feel like they have had their
say then much of the people's voice will be lost.

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stormbrew
I don't think it's obvious that someone who clicks on a petition either would
have otherwise sent a letter to a representative or would be discouraged from
doing so in the future after the fact. Maybe engaging in small scale
participatory democracy actually encourages people to engage in larger scales,
for all you know.

Frankly, I hear so much of this "oh that'll never do anything and it just
makes people disillusioned" nonsense about ALL levels of engagement
("protesters are hurting their own cause!" "it's just a staffer who reads your
letter!" "no one cares what you say!") that I'm extremely skeptical of all
such claims.

Maybe rather than tell people who engage that they're failing it would be more
useful to encourage them to succeed more.

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joelrunyon
> Frankly, I hear so much of this "oh that'll never do anything and it just
> makes people disillusioned" nonsense about ALL levels of engagement
> ("protesters are hurting their own cause!" "it's just a staffer who reads
> your letter!" "no one cares what you say!") that I'm extremely skeptical of
> all such claims.

But there are examples of those types of protests working. Have the petitions
ever done anything (other than the death star one which gave the gov't some PR
points)?

The activism that happened last year with SOPA actually took effort & targeted
the people who were able to act on it. Right now, the petition site seems to
be handled exclusively by the White House's PR team.

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ameister14
Ignoring the debated effects of petitions, laws that limit auto manufacturer's
sales are there for varied reasons state to state.

I love Tesla, but this isn't going to do it.

Finally, really nit-picky but you're petitioning the White House here, please
proofread.

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sunnybunny
Why were the laws enacted in the first place?

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ScottWhigham
You'd get 50 different answers because those are state laws.

