Direct Democracy - An Opinion

It's not popular to favor a reduction in the direct participation of the People in govenrment, but that is, in fact, what I favor. Direct democracy, in the form of the Referendum, is a terrible idea.

There is a reason that we elect officials to write and pass laws. As legislators, our officials are charged with making laws that represent their districts. It's thier job to make laws. They are better at it than we are.

Furthermore, a quick reveiw of the results of the Referendums past indicates a few things to me:

1) Special Interests dominate the Referendum

2) Laws that no self-respecting state Senator or Representative would propose in session sneak in the back door of the Referendum

3) Many Propositions past in California are at least partially Unconstitutional. That has to do with the fact that the bills are poorly written.

So, in short, I don't believe people in our state at least are ready to be given the power that the Referendum represents. It's sort of like handing out guns to children.