For most of our history, there was no process by which private interests could initiate and pass laws by popular vote for their own benefit. Even today it is not allowed under federal law and most states also prohibit it, although in the last election it was used to reverse control of the Michigan Legislature.
Our Founders were adamantly opposed to direct democracy, the system prevalent in archaic Greece in which citizens directly voted on up-to-date laws. Instead, our Constitution requires states to have legislatures to make laws.
“The United States will guarantee to every state in this Union a republican form of government,” he declares Article IV, Section 4 Constitution. Courts have shown they are unwilling to enforce this clause, so it is up to Congress and state legislatures to protect it.
Some people though 21 states allow up-to-date laws to be passed without the approval of the state legislature, thus creating a loophole that allows corporations to spend tens of millions of dollars on elections despite being prohibited otherwise. Colorado and Washington became the first states to do so legalize recreational marijuanathus introducing shortcuts to the legislative bodies.
Michigan was on the road to economic recovery under a Republican Legislature that held a 63-47 majority in the House of Representatives after the 2016 elections. Big Weed then put his thumbs on the scale, placing it marijuana initiative put on the ballot in 2018, spending millions pass legislation favorable to Democrats.
The predictable side effect was to eliminate more than half of the Republican advantage in the Legislature, reducing its majority to 58-52, and electing Democrats to statewide offices. In the 2020 election, in the absence of a similar vote, the balance of power remained unchanged, even though Democrat Joe Biden reportedly won the state.
Then in 2022, substantial money returned to Michigan to push a pro-abortion ballot initiative. Distortion $47 million was spent this abortion initiative allowed Democrats to take control of the Michigan House for the first time in over a decade while re-electing the Democratic governor, attorney general, and secretary of state.
It’s the tail wagging the dog. Originally intended as an occasional check and balance against corporate influence over the legislature, voting measures have become a loophole for moneyed interests to take legislative control of the state.
The above-mentioned guarantee clause in the Constitution requires a legislative process to make law. It should be unconstitutional for a private interest group to introduce voting legislation for their own benefit and then exploit corporate money to pass it.
Research shows that the side that spends the most on the ballot almost always wins. In 2018, the side with more expenses he won all ten of the ten most steep voting contests.
In 2017, Missouri’s Republican legislature joined most states in protecting workers’ freedom not to join unions. But Democrats later poured more than $18 million into their ballot campaign to repeal the Right to Work law.
Gambling has spread across the country largely through the ballot initiative process, as the gambling industry has sufficient funding to ensure voting laws favorable to it are passed. For more than a decade, Missouri had a favorable “loss cap” restriction on how much casinos could recover from an addicted gambler in a 2-hour period.
Gaming organizations repealed this good law by vote in 2008 after casino companies spent over $15 million to expand their nefarious industry. Both Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates opposed the pro-gambling vote this year, but it was passed off as largely casino-funded anyway.
Always Phyllis Schlafly opposed ballot initiatives as a way of making law. In addition to successfully opposing the Equal Rights Amendment in state legislatures, she also defeated the ERA when it was proposed as a ballot measure in seven states.
Ohio Legislature Now tries to raise the threshold to pass ballot initiatives on constitutional amendments from a uncomplicated majority to 60%, but this may not be a high enough or optimal remedy. In our Republican style of government, corporate mega-spenders should not be allowed to attempt to pass up-to-date laws by popular vote.
State lawmakers should narrow the scope of issues to be voted on because many state constitutions already provide for a single-issue limit. They could also seek to limit the scope of future ballot initiatives to tax or government school issues.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is a rising star who should be easily re-elected next year unless liberal businesses are allowed to spend millions on the sidelines running against him. The abortion industry may be planning to put its issue on the same ballot and then pass on ungodly sums in an attempt to replicate in Missouri the distortion seen in Michigan.
John and Andy Schlafly are the sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924–2016) and run the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles writing and policy work.
