Sorry, but I do agree with this.
Why even have legislators if people are going to override them with Propositions?
The author nailed it. CA is suffering from the old political axiom: I want more gov't services, but I ain't gonna pay for them. People need to take responsibility for themselves.
What about Prop 187? How much would that have reduced CA's expenses.
“Why even have legislators if people are going to override them with Propositions?”
Why have voters if the legislators and governor are going to ignore them? It’s not the voters who passed the hundreds of billions of dollars of spending that have put CA into default. The legislature did that, and the governor signed them.
It was the voters who eventually shut off the tap after the legislature and governor put the latest budget proposition to them. But for the voters, the governor and legislature would be happily on their merry way to another record deficit financed by more borrowed money. It’s a shame that the only way the people can get the politicians’ attention is by cutting off the money, but that’s the way it is.
I guess you could say that the voters are to blame for what the legislature does because they elect them, but that’s not a problem of direct democracy.
Let me just point out that according to the media, every time things go wrong in a conservative state, it’s the fault of the conservative politicians. Everytime things go wrong in a liberal state, it’s the fault of the people.
The notion that this problem was caused by the CA “system” is just liberal media propaganda. They are diverting attention from the real culprits, and it seems to be working.