The United States is a unique nation for many reasons, one being that its founding, based on the novel ideas of individual liberty and limited government, remains unlike any other country before or since. The Founding Fathers envisioned a government that balanced the will of the majority coupled with the protection of minority rights. They carefully designed a constitutional republic in order to avoid the pitfalls of pure democracy. So, does the growing trend of ballot initiatives undermine the foundation of America’s founding principles?
Interestingly, ballot initiatives were rarely used in the late 18th and 19th centuries. During the Progressive era, in the early 20th century, is when the use of ballot initiatives began in earnest. Originally, ballot initiatives were supposed to give the people more power by allowing them to have direct input on a variety of public policy…
