Democratic delusions Re: A Citizen's Signature (Repost)

Citizens's Signature the way you described mostly do harm than good.
Read DEMOCRATIC DELUSIONS: The Initiative Process In America by
Richard J Bills. At least read the following review.
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Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly
Is the ballot initiative the truest form of democracy, as its
supporters claim? No, according to political scientist Ellis (Founding
the American Presidency) in this devastating analysis of how the
initiative game is played. Only rarely and accidentally, he contends,
is the public interest served by the initiative process. In the 1990s,
for instance, initiative activists in Oregon, Washington and Colorado
gained tremendous visibility and power without any accountability to
"the people" they claimed to represent. On one hand, such initiatives
are still political, with money and well-organized special interests
enjoying powerful advantages; on the other hand, "the people"
themselves usually have conflicting interests that legislatures try to
balance, but initiatives can ignore. The ballot initiative's first,
Populist era American backers saw it as a panacea for confronting
entrenched corporate power. Progressive era backers 100 years ago saw
it more modestly, as a "gun behind the door," seldom used but always
handy to force legislative action. Both groups were misguided,
however, says Ellis. Most Progressive reforms passed without the
initiative, while at other times, initiatives clogged the ballot (in
Oregon in 1912 there were 28 initiatives). Indeed, Ellis shows, the
initiative can be counterproductive: the vote for women was
significantly delayed by it, he argues politicians were far more
supportive of woman suffrage than were voters. Historically revealing,
and distressingly up-to-date (he includes examples from the 2000
elections), Ellis masterfully uses vivid cases to illustrate broad
underlying problems. This is a book to crystallize simmering
discontent.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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One basic problem underlying most of these populistic measures are
their lack of balance. They address the interest of one group at the
expense of other groups in a zero-sum game fashion. Almost all of
these initiatives had invited extensive legal challenges if they won
in the ballot box. Quite a few were reversed. For example, Measure 8
of Oregon, 1994, tried to roll back what some citizens saw as excess
perks lavished on state employees. Shortly after its passing,

"At least half a dozen separate legal challenges were brought 
against Measure 8 in several different circuit courts. One was 
filed by the Oregon Education Association, another by the state's 
police force, prison workers, and parole officiers; and a group 
that include the city of Eugene, the statewide association of 
cities, the Oregon School Employees Association, a local firefighers 
union, the mayors of Portland and Salem, and two former governers."

In the end, the Oregon State Supreme Court stepped in. While the
ballot box made one group winner and the other groups losers. The
court reversed the outcome. Understandably, the sponsors of Measure 8
accused the court of self-serving because they themselves were the
benefaciaries. After reviewing the history of such direct democracy,
the author Richard Ellis simply vote say no to all democratic
initiatives. They are democratic delusions.