Direct democracy in practice is captured by moneyed interests despite its populist intent.

Evidence

Critics of direct democracy point to several shortcomings of the process. They believe, for example, that it may lead to shortsighted decision­ making, such as when Californians passed Proposition 13 in 1978, capping property taxes and robbing their (then) first-​rate system of public education of necessary fund­ ing. They claim that the only “people” given a voice through the modern initiative process are those with enough money to collect the thousands (or, in California, hun­ dreds of thousands) of signatures required to get a proposal on the ballot and fund a modern campaign for its passage. (It now costs around $3 million just to get a prop­ osition on the ballot in California.) Initiatives also suffer from being all-​or-​nothing propositions—​they don’t go through the give and take of the legislative process that may accommodate particular interests or make a law more workable. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 447

Categorization

• QUESTION: Proposition 13’s education damage — worth chasing: did the revenue cap actually cause California’s school funding decline, or is that a contested claim?
• XREF: connects to: Democracy is not self-sustaining and may need undemocratic supplements. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 413; Most vaunted democratic goods are not inherent to popular rule — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 405; The corporatist state is plutocratic in structure despite its populist base (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The corporatist state is plutocratic in structure despite its populist base #exemplifies (0.85)
• Most vaunted democratic goods are not inherent to popular rule #corroborates (0.82) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 405
• Populist rhetoric can forge hegemonic alliances binding the people to capital. #expands (0.80)
• Democracy is not self-sustaining and may need undemocratic supplements. #qualifies (0.78) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 413
• Ordoliberals wanted to reduce democratic participation to protect the market #exemplifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 525
• Democracy’s redistributions function as asset insurance for the rich. #complicates (0.75) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 60