Initiative Process Has Become Out of Control
Once again I am confronting the California initiative system and asking myself: “Why?
It seems to be that the initiative system was set up to circumvent the representative form of government that is held so close to the Western world’s heart.
In California, you do not have to convince a body of informed representatives of the people that your proposition should be law. You merely pay some people to collect a lot of signatures; you then flood the broadcasting and print media with a lot of slick advertisements, and let popular emotion do the work for you.
Fairness, applicability, future cost, common sense, etc., have nothing to do with this process. After reading some of the propositions, I am convinced that they are not even considered.
If Californians do not trust their elected representatives, why elect them?
There is enough hype and media abuse in the election process; it is about time that we consider getting this abuse out of the legislative process.
WILLIAM H. DeHART JR.
Redondo Beach
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