Democracy and money
by David Atkins (“thereisnospoon”)
Democrats in California are making efforts to revamp California’s famed initiative process:
Democrats in the Legislature are trying to make it harder for Californians to pass their own laws at the ballot box, saying the state’s century-old initiative process has been hijacked by the special interests it was created to fight and has perpetuated Sacramento’s financial woes.
n the waning weeks of this year’s lawmaking session, legislators will push bills to raise filing fees, place new restrictions on signature gatherers and compel greater public disclosure of campaign contributors.
One measure would allow the Legislature to propose changes that would appear on the ballot alongside an initiative even if its sponsor rejected them. Another would give the Legislature the right to amend or repeal initiatives that pass, after four years have gone by….
Republicans and their supporters are crying foul, saying Democrats just want to maintain the status quo.
“The long-term agenda is to neuter direct democracy in California under the guise of reforming the system,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., sponsor of Proposition 13, the landmark property-tax initiative.
DeSaulnier said most voters don’t realize how constrained lawmakers are by the initiative system. In recent decades, Californians have approved costly new laws and government programs but have also made it more difficult for lawmakers to raise taxes to pay for those that pass without funding attached.
The Legislature has cut deeply into some of California’s most prized assets — its higher education system, for example — as it has struggled to balance the books without being able to touch money earmarked by voters. California, lawmakers note, is the only state that doesn’t allow its Legislature to amend or repeal statutes created by voters.
California is exhibit A in what happens when too much money is allowed to pour into a purely democratic (small-d) electoral system. Voters want clean air, good schools, safe drinking water, and all the other benefits of living in a progressive society, so they are more than willing to pass bond measures borrowing to make those things happen. But voters also don’t want to pay taxes for those things. This is what has been called the the Two Santa Claus theory in California.
And while it is true that California Democrats could be doing much more to try to educate the public about the issues involved, it’s also a fact that this sort of educational approach bores voters, and pales in comparison with a multi-million dollar initiative ad campaign that touches on more emotional heartstrings.
The ability to make tough, potentially unpopular choices that have a long-term focus is what representative democracy is supposed to be about. Direct democracy has its benefits, but it gets abused when it is being manipulated by massive sums of money designed to confuse voters about the true nature of an initiative (case in point, the deceptive anti-union initiative currently underway.)
Calfornia’s legislature has almost no ability to solve problems. Most of the budget is tied up in guaranteed initiative bonds. It takes 2/3 of the legislature to pass revenue increases. Until very recently, it took 2/3 of the legislature to pass a budget as well. The legislature essentially has no power, and the lack of effective political media in California means that very little information about the problems filters down to the voters.
So when problems get worse, the legislature becomes even more unpopular, which in turn leads voters to take more power away from state legislators, in a self-reinforcing cycle.
The answers to the problem are clear, but difficult to make happen: curtail the ability of big money to buy ballot initiatives, and give more power to the legislature to solve problems. but, of course, both of those ideas are unpopular with most Californians, who tend to be fairly progressive overall.
The lesson for the rest of America? If big money is allowed to buy the system and permanently discredit the institutions of representative democracy, the way back to sanity, prudence and commonsense progressive policy is hard to find.
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