1 / 17

Participation

Participation. POSC 140 Intro to CA Governments and Politics Braunwarth. Public Opinion. How is Public Opinion more accurately expressed: Direct Democratic Action or through the deliberation of Representatives? Why? Which does a better job of governing? Why?

yehuda
Download Presentation

Participation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Participation POSC 140 Intro to CA Governments and Politics Braunwarth

  2. Public Opinion • How is Public Opinion more accurately expressed: Direct Democratic Action or through the deliberation of Representatives? • Why? • Which does a better job of governing? • Why? • Most participation is Indirect, why?

  3. Direct Democracy How used at State and Local level? • Ballot “propositions” (24 states use) • New England “town hall meetings” • Neighborhood Meetings • Small Township Meetings

  4. Historical Roots of CA Ballot Propositions • Part of “Progressive” movement (late 19th-early 20th c.) • Championed by Gov. Hiram Johnson • Response to Political Corruption and Economic Exploitation • Wanted to Empower the Average Citizen and • Free CA politics from the railroad “barons”

  5. Political Corruption • Party Politics often stood in way of the best, technical solution so ...? • Nonpartisan local elections (is there a Republican technique to filling potholes?) • Civil Service instead of Patronage • Use of City Manager, City Planning Commission, etc.

  6. Economic Exploitation • Progressives also wanted to protect citizens from economic exploitation • What changes were made? • Anti-trust laws • child labor laws • product safety laws • etc.

  7. Initiatives • Constitutional or Statutory Constitutional: changes the Constitution • need signatures of 8% of percent of turnout for last Gov. race (693,000) Statutory: need only 5% (433,000) • Which is more common? Why? • Constitutional can’t be invalidated because conflicts with CA constitution

  8. Legislative Initiatives Legislature must get public approval through initiative if: • Put state in debt (bond issues) • Change the Constitution • Alter or Amend laws originally passed as ballot measures • Legislators occasionally don’t want to touch controversial issues and pass the buck to the voters

  9. Effort to invalidate laws already passed by the legislature Must get 5% signatures within 90 days to delay implementation of the law Rarely used. Why? Time Constraints Just use an initiative Referendums

  10. Recall • Elections to remove an elected official from office • Used to remove Gov. Davis in 2004 • Voters were primarily upset with the poor state of the economy and the budget • What were the primary causes of these problems? • General Economic Downturn, Dot-Com bust, Terrorist Attacks, Electricity Crisis • Is Davis responsible or to blame for any of these? • Is this Direct Democracy run amok?

  11. Use of Initiative is Increasing • Alternative used by same groups who lobby legislature a. Economic Interests who have some-thing to gain or defend (businesses, trade associations, unions, etc.) b. “Grass roots” Interests: cigarette smoking, services to illegal immigrants, nuclear safety, CA coastline, etc.

  12. Expensive Undertakings • Who foots the bill? • “The People” or • Well-funded special interests? • Typically hire a professional organization to get petitions and conduct campaign • paid petition circulators ($.75/signature) • no limits on spending and much spent • Does more spending mean success?

  13. Who Benefits? • For whose benefit were these intended? • Does it still work this way? • Tends to benefit those already well-off and established • Need money and resources to put initiatives on the ballot • If don’t have resources, hard to use • Benefits the Haves > Have-Nots

  14. Who Loses? • Tyranny of the Majority often violates the norm of Political Equality • At expense of Minorities and Outgroups • Only 1/3 of inititiatives pass with public approval • But 3/4 that restrict the civil rights of minorities and homosexuals have passed • Public Approval does not mean ethically right or constitutionally valid

  15. Why about Representative Democracy? • Legislators, in theory, represent needs of all individuals in their district • Propositions often present an extreme view which must be decided yes or no • Consequently often poorly drawn • Bypasses legislative process of debate, amendment, and compromise • Symptomatic of cynical mistrust of elected officials

  16. Examples • 1996 Proposition 209 “The California Civil Rights Initiative” • Equates Discrimination with Preference • English Only propositions: • 1986 Proposition 63 (English only) • 1998 Proposition 227 (no bilingual education) • How comfortable are we with Hyperpluralism?

  17. Questions • Does the Initiative process facilitate or hinder democracy? • How will Teledemocracy change direct participation in the future? • How will this affect the quality and stability of decision making? • What dangers do you foresee? • How will turnout be affected? • What groups will use to their own ends?

More Related