esrosedotblog

TAKING THE INITIATIVE

We are Initiative crazy in California. Ever since I arrived here, I have felt over my head in 'initiative' argument. I am aware that initiatives have done a lot to distort the economy and the finances of the state government. And so on.

Kevin Drum talks about this in The Washington Monthly for September 28: Why I Hate Ballot Initiatives.

Here are his three reasons not:

1. In California, ballot initiatives were originally a progressive-era reform designed to provide a way for grass roots movements to bypass a frequently corrupt legislature. Today, however, it costs millions of dollars to qualify and pass a ballot initiative, and this means that they are now overwhelmingly the handmaiden of well-funded corporate interests, not ordinary citizens. That's the unfortunate reality, and I really don't think that wealthy special interests need yet another outlet for influencing the political process. Since the original intent of ballot initiatives has all but disappeared, I don't see the point of keeping them around.

2. Initiatives are constitutional amendments, which means that once passed they are almost impossible to change — regardless of changes in the outside word. Even if I'm in favor of reforming bilingual education, for example, I don't think it belongs in the constitution. It belongs in the legislature, where it can be changed in reaction to new facts, new demographics, and the normal give and take of the political world.

3. Initiatives increasingly are used to mandate specific expenditures. The result of this is that today the legislature has control over only a fraction of the state budget. (And when you add in federal mandates, contractual obligations, and court-ordered spending, the California legislature has practical control of perhaps 15-20% of the entire budget.) This is a horrible way of implementing budget policy.

SO. For now, I am considering a uniform negative on all the ballot initiatives that we have this time. The only possible yes is an initiative for stem cell research. Dunno. Maybe.