February 18, 2013 The Honorable Rebecca M. Blank Acting Secretary U.S. Department of Commerce 1401 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20230
Dear Madam Secretary, On January 30, a petition posted to the whitehouse.gov "We The People" site garnered sufficient signatures to invite a White House response. The petition, at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-metric-system-standard-united-states-instead-imperial-system/FndsKXLh asks President Obama to seek U.S. conversion to the metric system of measurement as the Nation's measurement standard. However, in searching the site, I fail to find such a response, and I believe one is necessary. With only 25,000 signatures required to elicit a White House response, the petition has garnered 40,000 nods. It begs an answer from the Obama Administration, which, on many occasions, has addressed U.S. world stature in connection with academics and trade. As the stated leader of the Commerce Department's efforts to strengthen U.S. competitiveness, you must have been discussing this petition and the issue it represents. Our country must start speaking and using the world's decimal measurement language as its own everyday measurement system. The longer we delay the changeover, the longer our economy and our academics will suffer. Sincerely, Paul R. Trusten Registered Pharmacist Vice President and Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. www.metric.org [email protected] +1(432)528-7724
