California's propositions system is broken. I'm voting no on all props to send a message

Here we are again, called upon to exercise our sacred duty as free citizens and vote in yet another California election. One can make the case we have too many elections, but that is not my complaint here.

The state officers and representatives we must elect are the price of democracy, and current trends to the contrary notwithstanding, democracy is still the best deal in the governing biz.

My gripe is with the proposition scam, and I use that word with deliberation and fervor. Every year we are confronted with such existential decisions as, how many people should staff a dialysis clinic, or who should own internet sports gambling — the casinos, the Indian reservations, or the race track.

Forgive my cynicism, but these are hardly fundamental questions of governance the public simply demanded to be heard on. Once upon a time, the ballot initiative was used to decide heavy, consequential questions, like whether California should forbid same-sex marriage (and we totally blew that one), or what the tax on properties should be for citizens who own a house.

I would make the case that even those important questions are better addressed through our elected representatives, after all, that’s what we elect them to do, but the proposition initiatives have deteriorated so far they don’t even resemble the way they were designed to be used.

In simple terms, the proposition game has become a con, run on the citizens by monied interests looking to seize even bigger fistfuls of our cash, public and private.

This election there are two different online gambling propositions competing for our votes, Prop. 26 and 27. From their ads, you’d think you were voting on a proposition to end homelessness, or maybe empower some Indian tribes that the casino boom bypassed. I still don’t know the difference between them, but you can bet that FanDuel and MGM sure do.

Then there’s Prop. 31. It outlaws flavored tobacco products which are already outlawed in many places in the state. This is the kind of thing that drives otherwise reasonable people toward populist fascism. We know what’s best for you. I can think of a thousand issues more pressing than this one, so why is it on the ballot? Because our proposition laws let someone’s pet passion become a statewide issue.

Here’s how the proposition process is supposed to work. The citizens get together and elevate democracy, bypassing the machines and party divides and power gridlock to get hard things done.

Here’s how the proposition process actually works. A business or a special interest has something they want to sell us, for their benefit, and they use all modern media to close the deal. Democracy has nothing to do with it. It’s about selling a product.

There is nothing inherently wrong with selling the people a product but what was supposed to be about power to the people has been captured by corporate interests. The proposition process is no longer about power to the people, it’s power from the people.

The only way to be free of proposition abuse is to vote no on everything. That’s what I’m going to do. What we lose in the rare justified proposition we’d gain in ending proposition abuse once and for all. When we make the proposition con an expensive failure, they’ll quit. Nothing dissuades corporate interests like a loss of money. Make them lose and they’ll give it up.

And then maybe our state legislators will do their job.

Allan Goldstein a newspaper writer, essayist, and novelist who splits time between San Francisco and Palm Springs. He is the writer of "The Confessions of a Catnip Junkie," the book your cat would write if your cat could write a book. He can be reached at bigalgoldstein@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California's propositions system is broken; I'm voting no on all props