An “Alaska Back to Russia” petition, sponsored by “S.V. of Anchorage” has popped up on the White House website and has garnered more than 33,000 signatures.

“Vote for succession of Alaska from the United States and join Russia,” it urges.

The 49th state has experienced unrest with the “lower 48,” even once creating a state commission to reflect on the costs and benefits of statehood.

An Alaska Independence Party has been on the ballot more than 20 years, its most famous member “first dude” Todd Palin, spouse of the former governor.

But rejoining Russia is a new idea.

The United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for a price of $7.2 million, a treaty decried as “Seward’s Folly” after Secretary of State William Seward. Critics argued that the U.S. was getting a vast, worthless expanse of snow and ice.

Alaska became a state in 1959, with the Anchorage Times joyously proclaiming across its front page: “WE’RE IN.”

Despite periodic grousing about federal policies — the state’s Big Oil-aligned politicians have fought to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — Alaska has done well on the deal. Alaska ranks No. 1 in the nation in per capita receipt of federal benefits.

Statehood brought the grant of more than 110 million acres (out of 375 million) to the state. Alaska picked well, including lands on which the Prudhoe Bay oil field sits.

Yet, there are ties to Russia: Aboriginal peoples crossed the Bering land bridge in pre-historic times. Russian explorers in the 18th and 19th century slaughtered marine mammals to the point of extinction. The Russian Orthodox Church is still a presence, especially in rural villages.

And, as Sarah Palin pointed out, you can actually see Russian from Alaska. Big Diomede Island, on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, is visible from Little Diomede Island, at least when the fog lifts. Saint Lawrence Island is close enough that Siberia can be spotted.

During the Cold War, the United States built gigantic installations — notably the CLEAR radar complex — to spot Russian bombers or missiles winging over the North Pole.

The end of the Cold War brought a crazy proposal from sometime Alaska Gov. Wally Hickel that the U.S. and Russia build a tunnel under the Bering Strait, aiming to connect with Russia’s rail system. Wally dreamed of riding from Anchorage to Moscow.

The White House website, under President Obama, has set up a formula: If a petition collects 100,000 signatures within 30 days, the White House will respond.

A 2012 petition, calling on Texas to secede, actually crossed the 100,000-signature threshold. A White House spokesman said:

“Our states remain united. Our Founding Fathers established the Constitution of the United State is order to form a more perfect union — they did not provide a right to walk away from it.”