Evil Trojan Horse on the Ballot : Avoid 136--the proposition for minority rule

The sleeper on the California ballot this year is Proposition 136, an insidious initiative that takes aim at some of the basic assumptions of modern democratic government.

Although The Times already has opposed Proposition 136, this cynical measure merits a second warning. If one were to draft legislation designed to subvert majority rule while rendering representative government ineffective, it would be difficult to improve on Proposition 136 as the vehicle. Neither politicians nor voters escape its suspicion. Even the current election law is mistrusted, because proponents have built in a provision that could have voters undoing some of the things they are voting on elsewhere on the same ballot.

But the fact that Proposition 136 has even the opportunity to pass is an eloquent statement in support of majority rule: We have enough faith in the process of democracy that we will allow even a bad idea like this one a chance of passing, if only the majority will approve.

Here are some ways Proposition 136 would conspire to uproot democracy: The budget process is a mess as it is, but this would require that all tax bills--even those that would not increase net state revenue--pass the Legislature by a two-thirds vote. Thus, naysayers would be empowered, by giving only a small portion of the voters veto power over decisions. Ballot measures calling for increases in special taxes also would be subject to the two-thirds test. Local governments would find their general tax increases subject to approval by a majority of voters, while increases for specifics would have to be approved by two-thirds. Ballot initiatives for transportation, such as Measure M in Orange County and Measure C in Los Angeles County were mercifully spared the tyranny of the minority that Proposition 136 champions. So were special taxes or personal property taxes that might be levied in response to natural disasters or emergencies.

But this proposition is heir to a 12-year-old tax revolt that has remarkable staying power. It’s unlikely the new unsilent minority that Proposition 136 spawns would rest easily until it had firmly established the outrageous principle that people and their elected representatives are not to be trusted with majority decisions on tax matters.

Worse, Proposition 136’s so-called “poison pill” provisions could have the effect of wiping out three other measures on the ballot: Propositions 129, 133 and 134.

And it’s a sign of how insane this election season has become--a time when even the consummate insiders are running as outsiders--that California voters are being seriously asked to cast their vote against the very workings of a democracy.

In its finest hours, the American political tradition has reserved a place of respect for minority views. But this fraudulent effort at reform simply would replace the majority will outright with that of a minority, extending an open invitation to special-interest groups to throw a monkey wrench into government. It has taken shameless audacity to ask all that of a simple majority of the state’s voters.