Choice #2 - Questions

[Karyn Gill <KarynGill@aol.com>]

If I understand the briefing book, Choice #2 wishes to transfer legislative power to the grassroots---citizens.  In California, we have had this power for a century.  If you don't like a law, you can put a referendum on the ballot for citizens to overturn it.  If you want to make a law, the vehicle is called an initiative.  

The initiative process in California spawned the infamous Prop 13 in 1978 which put a constitutional cap (with a small indexed increase each year) on property taxes.  Since then, several hundreds of initiatives have appeared on the ballot pushing an assortment of causes.  A small percentage has won over the years.  The common thread to these "wins" seems to be 1) a willingness to spend over $1 million to fund an initiative campaign and 2) a passion to by-pass the state Legislature and enact (with a 51% vote of their fellow citizens) a law of their own.  If there are bad consequences to these initiatives (for example, school funding in California went in the toilet after Prop 13 was passed), it is impossible to overturn the original initiative (it must go on the ballot again). 

What I think I see happening in my state is that special interests, not the average citizen, have figured out a way to capture and fund the legislative process without having to bother with politicians.  Their political ads are very slick--attack ads at their very worst--and most folks can't get enough information about who is supporting them to make informed decisions on their merits.  Is this good or bad?  I don't know, but the whole initiative and referendum (I/R) process certainly needs to be reformed in my state.