How to Fix California’s Democracy Crisis - NYTimes.com

I remember the days when I thought that being an anarcho-syndicalist might be a good idea, a la Big Bill Haywood, Emma Goldman, and the Industrial Workers of the World, and Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. One year terms of office, direct elections, voter recall, etc. seemed good. Reading James Madison in The Federalist papers drove me from that course - and proably got me past my comprehensives for my M.A. in Poli Sci at B.U.  Proposition 13 and California's  direct democracy debacle should quash all doubt about the need for a republican form of government - without excessive protection for minorities - like the 2/3 vote needed to raise taxes. - GWC

How to Fix California’s Democracy Crisis - NYTimes.com: "ONE hundred years ago today, California voters added the ballot initiative to the State Constitution, allowing citizens to use petitions to bring proposed statutes and constitutional amendments for a public vote.

But as California, the nation’s most populous state, marks this anniversary, the accumulated impact of direct democracy has made it virtually ungovernable. A two-thirds vote is required in each chamber of the Legislature to approve new taxes as a result of Proposition 13, the fabled tax initiative adopted in 1978. California is the only state requiring a two-thirds vote for both taxes and the budget, thus giving the minority party a veto on all major fiscal matters."

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