About this Blog
Direct democracy -- the Switzerland-inspired system of initiatives, referenda and recalls that allows voters to make and repeal laws in 24 states -- is poorly understood. It isn’t even very direct. Direct democracy has become blockbuster democracy: a half-billion-dollar international industry of signature gatherers, consultants, and election lawyers who use ballot measures less as a method of making law and more as a tool of mega-communications to boost some politicians, hurt others, and supplement lobbying campaigns.
Blockbuster democracy is a decentralized business that practices wide-open politics. This blog aims to provide a center of news, analysis and conversation for and about the industry. We will report from blockbuster democracy’s capital -- California -- but we’ll monitor ballot measures from across the country and around the globe.
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Is Connecticut the Next Blockbuster Democracy Frontier?
Conservatives there, many of them active in fighting same sex marriage, are calling for a constitutional convention that would permit full direct democracy in the Nutmeg State, including ballot initiatives.
Labor is organizing to oppose the effort. The last state to adopt the initiative process was Mississippi more than a decade ago. In most states, political leaders are going the other direction, attempting to reduce the ability of voters to legislate all by themselves. If Connecticut adopts the initiative, it would be the 25th state to do so, and the 28th to adopt direcdt democracy in some form.
Everyone should want to check & balance the legislature
Everyone should want to be able to check and balance the legislature. Ballot initiatives are the origin of most reforms, such as women's suffrage (passed in 13 states before Congress went along), direct election of Senators (4 states), publicly financed elections (by initiative in 6 of 7 states with them), medical marijuana (8 of 13 states) and increasing minimum wages (in all 6 states that tried in 2006). See http://Vote.org/initiatives for more examples.The media have seized on the problem initiatives. They generally kiss up to politicians and downgrade citizens.
Voters on initiatives need what legislators get: public hearings, expert testimony, amendments, reports, etc. The best project for such deliberative process is the National Initiative for Democracy, led by former Sen. Mike Gravel: http://Vote.org. Also http://healthydemocracyoregon.org/ and http://cirwa.org
A Caution on Gravel
Evan makes an excellent point about the history of ballot initiatives in the first paragraph. On Gravel, I think much more skepticism is warranted. I've interviewed Mike and examined the National Initiative for Democracy. Adding direct democracy into the federal system would have its advantages and disadvantages. But the problem with Mike's effort is the way he goes about it. Rather than pursuing an amendment to the constitution through constitutional means (the amendment process or a constitutional convention), Mike argues that getting millions of signatures over the Internet can force the qualification of the amendment. That's a novel argument, and one for which I can find no support among legal scholars. Joe Mathews Irvine senior fellow, New America Foundation www.newamerica.net/blog/blockbuster-democracy/
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