The movie The Fourth Kind, now in theaters, refers to the fourth level of interaction with extraterrestrials. We are told by the movie promotions the first kind is sightings, the second kind is evidence, and the third kind is contact. The fourth kind is abduction.
There appears to be a Fourth Kind of government entity that the people of California are dealing with themselves. The familiar first three kinds of government are federal, state and local. The fourth kind is the people through the initiative process.
A few might even say the initiative process is an abduction of government.
The people of California have not felt that way — at least not yet. Polls in the past have revealed that about 75% of those polled support the initiative process. Ironically, that number 75 is nearly the total of initiatives that have been filed with the Attorney General for title and summary during this election cycle.
The initiatives vary from the serious to the ridiculous – depending on ones point of view, of course. Offered initiatives propose to deny public benefits to persons who cannot verify lawful presence in the country; re-instate the right of same sex couples to marry; require lawmakers to certify that they have read all the bills prior to voting; legalize and tax marijuana; prohibit divorce; allow Christmas music to be played or performed in public schools; create a part time legislature; reform term limits; tax commercial property; tax cigarettes and create numerous other tax rule changes.
I’m not going through all 70 odd measures here. Suffice it to say many people have ideas on how to better run California.
Those opposed to the initiative process throw up their hands at all these measures and declare the process out of control. The word “crazy” has been attached to direct democracy a number of times. However, most Californians are not aware there are 70 or so measures that have been submitted. The voters will only know about the measures if they are asked to sign a petition or when the election rolls around. By then, of course, only a handful of measures will be on the ballot and there may not be an uproar about ballot measures.
Voters dealt with twelve propositions on the last statewide ballot. While there was some grumbling at the length of the ballot, there did not appear to be a revolt brewing against the initiative process. The high profile measures got the most attention, with Proposition 8, the gay marriage measure, leading the way. It received one million more total votes than some of the other propositions on the ballot.
That is not to say that voters would consider voting for some kind of reform if a large number of initiatives qualified for the ballot. In fact, I know that any measure defending the initiative process is not necessarily bullet proof. I was part of an initiative that intended to strengthen the initiative process and failed.
In 1990, I was proponent of Proposition 137 that would have required voter approval for any changes to the initiative process passed by the legislature. At the time, legislators were considering ideas on how to clamp down on the initiative process. Proposition 137 demanded voter confirmation on any laws that changed the way initiative or referendum petitions were circulated, presented to the voters, or presented to elected officials and certified. Proposition 137 was defeated by ten percentage points.
The initiative, while widely supported by the public, is not sacrosanct. Overuse of the process could lead to changes. If there was ever a time that overuse of the process seemed imminent that time is now.