Democracy Derailed: The Initiative Movement and the Power of Money

Longtime Washington Post scribe David S. Broder, considered by many to be the dean of Beltway journalists, delivers a pounding attack on ballot initiatives in Democracy Derailed. Available to voters in half the states and in hundreds of municipalities ("from New York City to Nome"), initiatives allow citizens to skirt the legislative process and put measures directly before voters. And this, writes Broder, "is alien to the spirit of the Constitution and its careful system of checks and balances." Furthermore, it "threatens to challenge or even subvert the American system of government in the next few decades." Broder begins with a history of initiatives, which grew out of the well-intentioned Populist and Progressive movements, quickly arriving at the present day and the numerous controversial measures on subjects ranging from taxes to campaign finance. Much of the book is devoted to the 1998 election cycle, with particular attention paid to California's Proposition 226--the paycheck-protection initiative that would have limited the ability of labor unions to spend members' dues on political activities. The fact that it ultimately failed doesn't undercut Broder's message, because so many other measures have been passed in California and elsewhere. The real strength of Democracy Derailed, however, isn't in its arguments against ballot initiatives, but in its description of how the business behind them really works. Broder spots moneyed interests everywhere; others will merely see citizens choosing to spend their dollars on politics. On one point Broder is indisputably correct: initiatives represent a grossly "unexamined arena of power politics." With this book, they become better understood. --John J. Miller