In the UK you can actual make official petitions to the government, through the government website. It's about effective as making a written petition to the government (aka not at all).
It's "very effective" when an election looms, when all the politicians are falling over themselves to "show interest" for the "common concerns". Then they talk about all the petitions and promise to do something... and when the election's over, so long, suckers!
This post actually got me to think of a part of a bright eyes lyric of Let's not shit ourselves (to love or to be loved):
QUOTE
Well I should stop pointing fingers; reserve my judgment of all those public action figures, the cowboy presidents.
So loud behind the bullhorn, so proud they can't admit when they've made a mistake.
While poison ink spews from a speechwriter's pen, he knows he don't have to say it, so it, it don't bother him.
"Honesty", "Accuracy" is just "Popular Opinion." And the approval rating's high, and so someone's gonna die.