If it was such a great idea, your representatives would have voted in favor of it, passed it, and then told you how great they are for getting it passed.
The only reason the ballot measure is being put in front of you is because when given the opportunity to put their name on it, your representatives shuddered at the idea and opted-out.
If this terrible idea passes, it’s your fault, not theirs.
That I am aware of, there was a single ballot measure that was a good idea: California’s Proposition 13 of 1978.
Prop 13 limited the taxes that the government could collect, so zero representatives were going to vote in favor of it: it had to come from the voters and be put in front of the voters. Governor Jerry Brown was warning everyone ahead of the election about what a disaster it would be, if it passed.1 It turned out to be the best idea ever.
Why was it the best idea ever? Because it limited taxes to a stable metric: property values. Before Prop 13, collected taxes were highly variable both by time and location. After Prop 13, Sacramento knew with high precision how much money was going to be coming in.
That didn’t stop the bureaucrats from spending foolishly; but it did remove the excuse that they overspent because revenues fell short this year. They overspent because they wanted to overspend.
Anyway, when your ballot has measures on it for you to approve, and they aren’t a grassroots movement to limit government reach, just vote no.
- After the election and it passed with an overwhelming majority, Jerry Brown tried to claim he was in favor of it all along, adding evidence to the old adage: “How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips are moving.” ↩︎