Democracy Derailed: The Initiative Movement and the Power of Money

by David S. Broder

A new form of government is sweeping across the initiative process, available in half the states and hundreds of cities. Where once most state laws were passed by legislatures, now voters decide directly on such explosive issues as drugs, affirmative action, casino gambling, assisted suicide, and human rights. Ostensibly driven by public opinion, the initiative process is, in reality, manipulated by moneyed interests, often funded by out-of-state millionaires pursuing their own agendas. In this highly controversial book David Broder tells how this revolution came about. A movement that started with Proposition 13 in California is now a multimillion-dollar business in which lawyers, campaign consultants, signature gatherers, and advertising agencies sell their expertise to interest groups or to do-gooders with private agendas. Broder takes the reader into the heart of these battles as he talks with the field operatives, lobbyists, PR spinners, labor leaders, and business executives, all of whom can manipulate the political process. A James H. Silberman Book

Genres: Politics

260 pages, Hardcover

First published April 5, 2000

Reviews

[Aiden Guzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Broder’s “Democracy Derailed”, while incredibly well researched and presented, seems irrelevant now and does not reveal any groundbreaking information almost 24 years after its release.

Much of this book is a retelling of events leading up to citizen initiatives in California and other states. At times this book feels like a play by play instead of political commentary which can be irksome, but ultimately Broder presents this in a way that is at least enjoyable if not incredibly informative.
My biggest gripe with this book is the overall message that money plays a role at the ballot box. I do not feel that I needed 264 pages to underline this point. I think it would be difficult to find any American citizen who fails to recognize the clandestine nature of money being involved with the voting process, citizen initiatives included.

Ultimately, I believe that “Democracy Derailed” provides little new information to its target audience and leaves said audience on an unnecessarily somber note. However, the one bright spot of this book is Broder’s ability to turn the seemingly mundane topic of ballot initiatives into a roller coaster-esque journey that does justify the read.

[Peter Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating book about a phenomenon that rarely gets its due spotlight as a unique and quite flawed feature of American democracy (especially in Western states). The case study on Prop 226 in California, in particular, was excellent — the author did such a great job of conveying the ups and downs of the campaigns as the people working on them probably felt them, but keeping an eye on the macro trends the whole time.

My only gripes are that the book became a bit redundant over the last hundred or so pages, and the final chapter could have done a better job exploring opportunities for and movements toward reforming the ballot initiative.

[Tim Rise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because of this book, I can no longer bring myself to sign initiative petitions nor fully support initiatives on ballots. Money brings the power to bend the truth most of the time.

[Chris Aylott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure if David Broder thought he was on to a compelling problem when he wrote this book, but fourteen years after its publication it just seems quaint. With authoritarian governments on the loose around the world, a post 9/11 security state at home, and Congress seemingly determined to seek out new lows of futility, ballot initiatives rank very low on the list of political problems to worry about.

Broder has also misdiagnosed the problem. There's nothing inherently wrong with the initiatives he describes. Some of them are good ideas, some of them seem pretty dumb, and many of them get promoted with a mix of truth and lies. That's par for the course in politics, and the ballot initiative system seems to be functional and useful as a whole.

The problem, as Broder points out, is that ballot initiatives are also expensive, so the system favors interests with deep pockets. Big Money is a problem, but it's a problem that affects all political systems, not ballot initiatives in particular. Broder seems to be looking for solutions to ballot initiatives, when he should be looking for ways to reduce the distortion of Big Money in politics. There may be some contrarian ways to do that: what if you lowered the signature threshold so that it didn't take so much money to get on the ballot? What if you created a crowdfunding system so that citizen groups could fund their causes without relying on businesses and multi-millionaire donors? There may be lots of ways to improve the ballot initiative process, but glaring at it and declaring your fealty to James Madison is unlikely to help.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll use in oxymoron in my review in saying that this was at once boring and a quick-read. The latter probably has to do with the relative slimness (as far as political nonfiction books go) of the novel, and also the large font.

In any event, most of the book, as the title implies, focused on initiative campaigns; most specifically, the campaigns revolving around California's Prop. 13 and Prop. 226. Some examples of other propositions in other states were peppered throughout, but really, most of the hullabaloo described took place in California, which, given the largeness of the state, is not really all that surprising.

The author's point, however, isn't resoundingly clear until the very last chapter, which is easily the best chapter of the book--it being the best organized and most readable.

I wouldn't recommend the book, per se, at least not to the casual reader, but for political junkies like myself, it's a worthy read.

The author, David S. Broder, is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist who has clearly done his research and is a voice one may trust. In light of that, I appreciate this book simply because he wrote it.