The Ambivalence of Direct Democracy Essay

His main arguments are how powerful direct democracy is and how citizens have gained power in a state government due to the initiative processes. He explains the power of the citizens by using California and how the Californians used direct democracy to fight off the hold that the Southern Pacific Railroad had on California’s government. Another argument that he had was the flaws the direct democracy system had and gave some solutions on how to improve the system. Helgerman used proposition 13 to show how the elite (individual with money & big businesses) used the direct democracy to come up with new ways to lobby so bills that they wanted could be placed on the ballot for

The Americans fought long and hard in their Revolution and deservingly so defeated the British and won their independence in 1783. From there, the US transferred to a government set by the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation did not turn out to provide a much better life than the Americans had under the British, with the states not able to work with each other. The lack of state's collaboration brought about this idea of too much Democracy. After the disaster that the AofC was, there was a new Constitution being drafted; however, many Americans were divided upon which path the new Constitution should take, one with or without a strong central government. This distinction in ideology put the country's elite at odds. The

Dating back to its admission into statehood, reform has been an undeniable element of California. It could even be argued that many important landmarks in our state history were defined by acts of reform, such as the implementation of direct democracy into its state constitution during the progressive era of the late 19th and early 20th century. In modern California, it could be argued that there has been no greater landmark than the passage of Proposition 140.

As much as Proposition 13 has received criticism, it still has its advantages. The proposition has increased stability in the community and allowed predictability for property owners. Progressive income tax has an impact on higher incomes, whereas property tax affects those in the lower income bracket. Therefore, high property taxes affect those that have highly valued property, but earn low incomes. Reducing property taxes for such people is a great advantage to them. Furthermore, the proposition has enabled Californian taxpayers to save billions of dollars over the years (Smith, 1998).

Initiatives like any other issues have two sides to it; we must assess both sides to get a better scope of the issue. Contrary to the believe, propositions gave some benefits to the people of California as well as the legislature. In 1911 the California legislature passed the initiative process and was later approved through an election by Californians. By doing so Californians were given the right to directly vote on constitutional amendments and statues. In California, the legislature is prohibited from repealing or amending any statutory initiatives. The first initiative that had a beneficial effect on the legislature is Proposition 1A, which professionalized the California legislature by increasing their salary from $6,000 to $16,000 per

Direct democracy is a form of government in which all laws are created by a general vote of society. This means that political decisions are put forward to the people as they are the ones who are going to be directly affected by the outcome of the decision. An example of direct democracy used occasionally in society is referendums. A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision. Within this essay I am going to be arguing whether direct democracy should be used more widely by weighing up the

In 2009, Roberts and Trounstein argued that California was "ungovernable" and “our state government did not have the capacity to make timely decision to solve the problems facing our state”. However, California is not ungovernable anymore. In past few years, California has many changes, which affect on the state legislature as well as change the ways Californians vote. People can name some changes as “Open” or “Jungle” Primary (Prop. 14), Citizen’s Redistricting Commission (Prop.11), Majority budget (Prop. 25), and enacted the “top-two” open primary. The Governor and the Legislature, in turn, gave up authority to solve problems that are better solved at a regional or community scale. Nowadays, California is one of the model of state government.

I would have rather paid a measly 200.00 to the government than to have Proposition 13. This is a slap in the face as a teacher, they are truly hurting the wrong things. Most people knew that it would do this and it did. I was resentful and how many ways can we express ourselves? I thought this was like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. What was even worse was that it undercut and there had to be reductions to meet constraints and we had to go backwards. Also the two-thirds vote should have been majority. Another impact was that other states followed California and the taxpayers wanted to send a message, I believe Oregon passed one. There is only one way to get around this proposition and that is mellow rues."

"You're fired!, the voters' version of "The Apprentice": An analysis of local recall elections in California." Rachel Weinstein, Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, Vol , 15. 2005-2006.

As Rinaldi stated in his article that local control “poses a bigger risk of enacting laws that infringe on individual rights,” which creates some concern that liberty has taken the proverbial backburner in society. 2 Rinaldi states that when local control supporters agree with a state law restricting municipal authority, local control doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore. The in favor opposition creates a compelling argument that local control is the voice of the people and more policy development transpires through this level of government. In very recent media coverage it was made known that local government took a stance on fracking and its’ effects on the reoccurring earthquakes. 3 Unfortunately, the state senate passed a bill that will basically dissipate local control over oil and gas industry activities (White). Many people are upset by this, but the solution is as a voter, pay close attention to the Texas representative and senator and how they voted. 4 Voters can make a difference in this

Since California is a self governing state, it is based upon majority rule so we exercise

A democracy is when the common people are considered as the primary source of political power. Although democracy and absolutism had advantages and disadvantages, democracy was a more effective type of government for it limited royal power and protected the rights of the people socially, politically, and economically. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, tension arose between the two different types of governments, the democracy and absolute monarchs.

Democracy is a unique type of government, and the purpose of this essay is to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses that a democratic government provides. I will detail that many components of this type of society are both strengths and weakness as each component has beneficial aspects as well as unavoidable pitfalls.

The American democracy is one of the most peaceful kinds of government in the world although it is a long way from utopia. The democracy in which we live has many strengths and weaknesses. Neither strengths or weaknesses out weigh one another, but it is necessary to have both due to the varying definitions. A democracy is a government that is run by the people. The politicians that we elect to run our government are human and they are susceptible to mistakes based on their own strengths and weaknesses. The strengths and weaknesses they possess are reflected into our government but at least “we the people” elect them and they are not chosen for us.

There is a lot of controversy over which government is the best, and honestly I don’t think there really is a best form of government but I believe there that some are better than others. Direct Democracy definitely has its flaws, it is the best option open to us at this time. It gives the people the power to get what they want. America is already a form of Democracy, it’s a Representative Democracy. So direct Democracy is not too far fetched.