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March 10, 2008 - 1:58pm — Joe Mathews

Direct democracy -- the Switzerland-inspired system of initiatives, referenda and recalls that allows voters to make and repeal laws in 24 states -- is poorly understood. It isn’t even very direct. Direct democracy has become blockbuster democracy: a half-billion-dollar international industry of signature gatherers, consultants, and election lawyers who use ballot measures less as a method of making law and more as a tool of mega-communications to boost some politicians, hurt others, and supplement lobbying campaigns.

Blockbuster democracy is a decentralized business that practices wide-open politics. This blog aims to provide a center of news, analysis and conversation for and about the industry. We will report from blockbuster democracy’s capital -- California -- but we’ll monitor ballot measures from across the country and around the globe.

Your Blogger: Joe Mathews is an Irvine senior fellow at New America Foundation; he writes about California, its history, its politics and its government. A journalist for the past 13 years, Joe was until recently a reporter in the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times. (He remains a contributing writer at the Times). He covered dozens of initiative campaigns, and published a book about Gov. Schwarzenegger and direct democracy, The People’s Machine, in 2006. He previously reported for the Wall Street Journal and Baltimore Sun, and his work has appeared in The New Republic, The Washington Post, and CondeNast Porfolio.

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Wolves Video

Joe Mathews -

April 6, 2008 - 11:08am

Pardon all the animal talk. Your blogger doesn't keep pets and has a fear of most animals as a result of growing up on the streets of Hong Kong (wild dogs) and Southern California (coyotes). But direct democracy is all about animals these days. Three political consultants -- who live in three separate time zones -- told me last week that they expect a measure on confinement of farm animals to be the biggest initiative campaign in California this fall. The agriculture industry -- particularly the chicken folks -- see this initiative as a mortal threat.

I came across the following video in my attempts to learn more about the aerial wolf hunting initiative scheduled for the August ballot in Alaska. It's by Defenders of Wildlife, so take it with a grain of salt. But it gave me at least a mental picture of what Alaskans will be debating this summer.