Submitted by Joe Mathews on September 4, 2008 - 7:24pm.
Writing too fast, I forgot about Arizona. Correcting the error. Deep Throat is right there. On New Mexico, he's not. it never had the initiative. When we refer to direct democracy on this site, I mean states with both initiative and referendum. As for Oklahoma, Deep Throat's view is what you'll find in the textbooks, but it's not quite right. While it's often listed as having I and R since its founding, Oklahoma did not have the initiative at statehood. But it did get the full initiative a few years later. I should have gotten Arizona right and made a note about Oklahoma in the post. I could expand on early Oklahoma history, but I will spare you. As for ballotpedia, I find the site useful, and think they are making a solid effort to track all the measures, which no one else does as thoroughly. But I don't rely on it. I rely on the state's own official data, and sometimes on the Initiative & Referendum Institute at USC, and its site. I'm sure some people would consider IRI to be right-wing as well. We're in an era where the right tends to champion direct democracy, and the left doesn't. But those positions tend to shift depending on which side is winning at the ballot box. Joe Mathews Irvine senior fellow, New America Foundation www.newamerica.net/blog/blockbuster-democracy/
Brain Cramp on Arizona
Writing too fast, I forgot about Arizona. Correcting the error. Deep Throat is right there. On New Mexico, he's not. it never had the initiative. When we refer to direct democracy on this site, I mean states with both initiative and referendum. As for Oklahoma, Deep Throat's view is what you'll find in the textbooks, but it's not quite right. While it's often listed as having I and R since its founding, Oklahoma did not have the initiative at statehood. But it did get the full initiative a few years later. I should have gotten Arizona right and made a note about Oklahoma in the post. I could expand on early Oklahoma history, but I will spare you. As for ballotpedia, I find the site useful, and think they are making a solid effort to track all the measures, which no one else does as thoroughly. But I don't rely on it. I rely on the state's own official data, and sometimes on the Initiative & Referendum Institute at USC, and its site. I'm sure some people would consider IRI to be right-wing as well. We're in an era where the right tends to champion direct democracy, and the left doesn't. But those positions tend to shift depending on which side is winning at the ballot box. Joe Mathews Irvine senior fellow, New America Foundation www.newamerica.net/blog/blockbuster-democracy/