your first amendment right to petition your government is threatened

"We The People believes the Right to Petition is, in fact, the "capstone" Right of the Bill of Rights and that its effect is the direct exercise of Popular Sovereignty -- the First Great Right of the Founding documents that declares government is the servant of Men."

Others write, "although a petition is only as meaningful as its response, the petitioning right allows blocs of public interests to form, harnessing voting power in ways that effect change.

The right to petition allows citizens to focus government attention on unresolved ills; provide information to elected leaders about unpopular policies; expose misconduct, waste, corruption, and incompetence; and vent popular frustrations without endangering the public order.

Inflamed by the king's stonewalling of their appeals, the Founders embedded the right to petition into the Constitution by way of the First Amendment.

The U.S. Supreme Court exalted the right as "among the most precious liberties safeguarded by the Bill of Rights" and implicit in "the very idea of government."

The petition clause ensures that our leaders hear, even if they don’t listen to, the electorate. Though public officials may be indifferent, contrary, or silent participants in democratic discourse, at least the First Amendment commands their audience."

The Bernalillo Count Commission, the City Council, and the APS Board of Education have all removed their public forums from the public record. Many members of these groups no longer even attend the public forums that precede their regular meetings.

A public forum represents the only avenue for a citizen of this community to petition their government. Removing that petition from the record renders the petition meaningless.

Whatever their stated reasons for removing the forum from the record; the underlying reason is to dodge accountability for their public service.