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. (Feb.)
