Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

People have hardly any participation in government other than to vote for someone they don't know, and have no control over if they aren't part of the Special Interests that got the candidate elected. Initiatives are an astounding opportunity to have a say. Some States offer the idea of an initiative, a citizen-sponsored law, rather than using elected representatives. Mostly, Initiatives fail to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot, and the rest fail in the vote, but once in a while, it works and there's a new citizen-made law. However, lawmakers are jealous of their law-making privilege, and often collude with the executive branch to invalidate the new law. The argument against initiatives seems to be loss of control by the Elites who know better than citizens.

Advisory votes are similar attempts by citizens to directly engage in government, but have even less impact. Advisory votes hold no authority, they are simply to gauge how popular an issue is; like building a sports center or new bridge. If an Advisory vote supports the project, status quo is maintained; but if the advisory vote fails, the Elites who made the decision have more difficulty explaining themselves. Without Advisory votes, only the government side of the issue gets aired and citizens don’t know what the counter-arguments are. Elites don't like advisory votes because they have already made up their minds, and don't want any hassle from citizens.