Referenda* are a response to legislative dysfunction – a citizen “veto” of the legislature. The mitigation is that these truly are rare – and as such still represent a safety value when the legislature runs too afoul of popular opinion.

Although referenda are not law-making, I do recognize the slippery slope if referenda become the norm and scare the legislature out of peforming its duty on controversial topics. So while I’m not thrilled with the precedent, the trade-off at this point seems acceptible.

(And no, I’m not speaking from a results orientation, but from a balancing of evils – a runaway legislature vs. a runaway citizenry.)

Overall, we have a breakdown in republican government because the spirit is dying and we try to cover that over with more structures that offend the original design, ending up with a monster.

When too few of our citizenry (and legislators) understand what a republic is about, much less subscribe to the compact, we have a sickness unto death.

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*Note on definitions. Referendum is a popular vote on overturning a piece of legislation. Even in California, these are still quite rare.

The distinction is vis-a-vis Initiative, which represents citizen law-making, which has been shown to carry all your fears about subverting republican principles and leading to legislative abdication (not to mention poorly constructed laws).

So briefly, Initiatives have proven themselves to “betray” republican principles. Referenda are a two-edged sword, but so long as they remain a rarely-used procedure, they have value as safety valves to preempt a slide to civic rebellion.