Our constitution in Michigan allows for voters to put up ballot proposals that can become constitutional ammendments with a direct popular vote.
This is how we legalized weed, and abortion access.
I think if more states had something that gave power to the people like this then you would see more good government.
@IanJHill @TonyStark @LittleTownJane
Yes, but it needs safeguards. What financial safeguards do you have in Michigan?
Californians bankrupted their state by having funds earmarked for special purposes through ballot initiatives, leaving insufficient funds for other purposes.
Say you have 8 successful ballot measures which each assigning 10% of revenue to a specific purpose. While good for these purposes, it cripples the state.
@TonyStark @LittleTownJane @IanJHill
It was, because of a 1933 ballot initiative requiring a super majority for any budget:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932012_California_budget_crisis
They had to pass another ballot initiative to fix the mess, and another ballot measure to raise taxes so they could pay teachers.
Today, the projected deficit is "only" $22.5 billion.
Despite having a ton of repulicans it seems most people in Michigan prefer their government help people not hurt people.
Some exceptions obviously, we do have Flint which just gets ignored for all time.
That's good, I am in Michigan too and I have only heard the bad news about Flint for years. I suppose the good news is not as clicky.
Tony, Pretty Much
IanJHill
Daniel AJ Sokolov
Behindmyscreen