Larry Sabato-Tyranny of the Mob Rules in California

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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-sabato19aug19,1,6697664.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Tyranny of the Mob Rules in California

By Larry J. Sabato
Larry J. Sabato is director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author, most recently, of "Midterm Madness: The Elections of 2002" (Rowman & Littlefield).

August 19, 2003

The recall is just the latest manifestation of mob-ocracy. Californians have piled foolish initiative upon foolish initiative in modern times. The result: A sizable majority of California's budget is rigidly predetermined by voter-mandated allocations to education, transportation and criminal justice, regardless of the economic conditions prevailing at any given time. Each initiative sounded good, but the budget hole is greater than the sum of these parts, as voters should have learned in the midst of their $38-billion state shortfall.

The nation's founders, not the Progressives, were right. Representative democracy is far superior to pure democracy. Recall, except in a dire emergency, destroys rather than enhances effective government, as does excessive use of the initiative process.