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Re: Remembering democracy
For some time now, the initiative system has been dominated by wealthy interests that can afford to hire people to stand in front of supermarkets and gather signatures. Oftentimes these people are working both sides of an issue--during the recent push for the recall, for example, I was asked several times if I wanted to sign the petition to recall Governor Davis, and when I said no, I was immediately asked if I wanted to sign the petition *not* to recall Governor Davis. If it were just dedicated volunteers gathering signatures, as I think was envisioned when the process was set up during the progressive reform era, it would be a different matter--but as things stand, a millionaire can pretty much get any initiative s/he wants on the ballot, while those of us with a bit less in the bank face a much steeper climb. And that's not even getting into the matter of advertising money. So it's hard to see initiatives as a really "democratic" (with a small d) institution anymore. Worse, initiatives take precedence over all other state laws, and can't be repealed or even amended without passing a whole new initiative. Some yutz makes up a law, gets a bunch of signatures, and then that's it--yes or no--no deliberation, no fixing up unclear language, no amending it to drop a controversial section or add a better idea that came along during the debate. If people vote yes because they generally like the idea of the proposition even though it has flaws, the legislature is hamstrung when it comes to fixing the flaws. It's really not a very good way to run a government. But I see no hope of California getting rid of it. At best, maybe we can reform the system. Banning paid signature gatherers would be a start, if it's constitutional to do so. There are responses to this message:
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