Propositions

After voting Nov. 2, I asked myself, not for the first time, why does it seem that so many tough policy decisions that confront the state must be passed on to the voting public in the form of yet another proposition?

It strikes me that a great many of these initiatives may be little more than elaborate “buck passing” by our state Legislature; do we really need a half-dozen new initiatives every year to address the issues facing the state, or should we demand that our representatives make the tough choices they were elected to make? We need also ask ourselves whether this referendum-driven tinkering with the state’s Constitution and laws is really a service or a disservice to the state’s population; do we really trust our legislators so little that every election day the voters must pore over yet another series of piecemeal attempts to circumvent the legislative process and amend again our Constitution?

I applaud the attempts to determine where the citizens stand on certain issues, but by throwing so much on their shoulders, I fear that in the end the propositions, initiatives and similar blather we continually vote on will make of our Constitution and laws an ad hoc amalgam of confusion and inconsistency.

CHRISTOPHER BARNES

Torrance

Former Legislature Present Legislature