Challenge the State

by metricpioneer

Challenge the State for not allowing you to render your height and weight in centimeters and kilograms on your state-issued driver license or identification card. Your chance of success is not as important as getting their attention.

“I am just one person, so I can’t make a difference!” Did you ever say that to yourself? People commonly resign themselves to such a pathetic state of mind in the face of seemingly insurmountable endeavors, but be encouraged by the fact that things start to change when others do the same thing over and over with increasing frequency. The squeaky wheel gets the grease as they say.

In 1927 CE several million people in the United States sent over 100,000 petitions urging Congress to adopt the Metric System.

In 2012 CE the White House received precisely 49,914 petition signatures to Make the [SI – the International System – formerly known as the] Metric system the standard in the United States, instead of the Imperial system.

The White House responds through Patrick D. Gallagher, who is Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology as well as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): “Thanks for your petition. There’s a lot of history here. Right after the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson signed legislation that made . . . bla bla bla . . . ”

Patrick ended his totally weak response by saying “So choose to live your life in metric if you want.”

Here it is! Here is our authority to take the White House up on that offer. Let us indeed live our lives in metric! The White House says we can, so let us just do it now! Let us take them at their word and rub it in their nose.

Challenge your state for the right to render your height and weight in centimeters and kilograms on your driver license. Be creative and challenge other government entities for not rendering units in the SI and just use this White House directive as the authority for your lawsuit.

You may want an example of this strategy actually working. Well after years of complaints, the United States Postal Service finally gave us a metric weight option:

See! We can accomplish this when enough people like you put forth the effort. Let us know the details of your lawsuit on Facebook page Kill the Inch and Complete US Metrication. We would love to know about all of your pro-SI experiences on Facebook.