Voters from nearly every US state have taken to the Obama administration's online petition site with a simple request: "Peacefully grant the State of [STATE NAME] to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government."

Many of these petitions have only a few thousand supporters (or, to put it another way, many of these petitions have a few thousand supporters?). But some have far more. The petition for the state of Texas has garnered 89,540 signatures in four days—far more than the 25,000 needed to secure an official response from the Obama administration.

Here's the Texas petition in full:

The US continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government's neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending. The citizens of the US suffer from blatant abuses of their rights such as the NDAA, the TSA, etc. Given that the state of Texas maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th largest economy in the world, it is practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union, and to do so would protect it's citizens' standard of living and re-secure their rights and liberties in accordance with the original ideas and beliefs of our founding fathers which are no longer being reflected by the federal government.

Few conservative leaders have endorsed the idea. Even the fiery Erick Erickson took to his RedState.com today to tell his angrier readers that "we here at RedState are American citizens. We have no plans to secede from the union. If you do, good luck with that, but this is not the place for you."

Of course, because this is the Internet and because these petitions are user-generated content, the secessionists are now being trolled mercilessly by counter-petitioners.

"Strip the Citizenship from Everyone who Signed a Petition to Secede and Exile Them," reads one new petition which attracted 4,100 signatures in 24 hours. "Deport Everyone That Signed A Petition To Withdraw Their State From The United States Of America," reads another.

Others are more creative, such as "Peacefully grant the city of Austin Texas to withdraw from the state of Texas & remain part of the United States." The petition notes that the city "continues to suffer difficulties stemming from the lack of civil, religious, and political freedoms imposed upon the city by less liberally minded Texans." It also requests permission "to annex Dublin Texas, Lockhart Texas, & Shiner Texas."

The Internet sets the barrier to public participation so low ("just click here!") that such petitions are now simple to draft and to "sign." (Exhibit one: "have the President to attend a Fark.com party. If scheduling does not permit, at least have a beer with Drew Curtis.") But critics routinely assail this sort of online activism as being too easy, noting that it takes so little commitment—no time or money or even a stamp are needed—that it's hard to read too much into the results.

Still—we're curious to see the White House response.