I would want popular initiatives on a federal level.
How I envision such an initiative would work is that the people can pass federal laws. In order for a federal law to get passed via referendum, the proposal would have to
1) get a 50%+1 majority of votes nationwide
2) get a 50%+1 majority within a number of states equal to 50%+1 in the Union (currently 26 states).
So with this "double majority" system, proposed laws can get passed by the people directly and bypass Congress.
that's actually a really good idea, but it's worthless, there's no movement anywhere (except in our imaginations)
after the republicans thoroughly wasted the democrats in the civil war, 1861-65, the federal govt, characterized by a very strong congress and a relatively weak chief exec (the presidency would not rise near its modern condition till teddy) was all but OWNED by the gop
between lincoln and woodrow wilson, 52 years, there is ONE blue prez, grover cleveland, gov of ny, who did, it is true, win the white house twice
the point is---under one party rule the gop did get kinda grimy (the grant cabinet comes to mind)
but worse, the backroom nature of unchecked power, the control of the party over the people---that'd be best personified by james g blaine, speaker of the house from maine
the point, here, is---opposition to gop machinery came not from the dems, wedged in in the still racist and extremely resentful south
no, principled opposition to the corruption that accompanies one party rule came from within the party of lincoln itself
reformist republicans, historically they're known by several rather obscure names, but the best is mugwump
indeed, mugwump disgust with blaine's insider-ism led to the election of cleveland in 84
teddy was a mugwump, tho he backed blaine in 84, teddy only became president by accident when mckinley was assassinated in buffalo in 1901
as chief police commissioner in nyc teddy cleaned up corruption in a filthy dept and became immensely, dangerously popular
as superstar gub of ny he went after the party, broke the machine, ended the spoils system that dominated empire state politics
the party tried to pidgeon hole him in the bucket of spit which is the vice presidency, but a communist's bullet intervened
as prez teddy was trust buster, he went after the barons in this gilded age, he championed food inspection, child labor laws, defense of our environment
in the famous umw strike of 02 teddy applied presidential pressure to win the miners a higher wage and shorter work day
teddy honored the tradition established by the greatest american, washington, and did not run for a third term in 08
his veep taft, a company man, assumed and worked to negate the roosevelt reforms
this is why teddy returned from safari in 12 and ran bull moose, the most successful third party bid in modern american history (he actually beat the gop)
but he only ensured that the filthy anti black racist wilson would become the second dem to win the white house since honest abe
the reformist, refreshing mugwump wing of the gop persisted after teddy
fighting bob lafollette of always progressive, experimental wisconsin is the most famous of these outsider republicans
hiram johnson in california and burton wheeler in montana were other notables
their platform---workman's comp, collective bargaining, direct election of senators (many still chosen by state legislatures), primaries to allow the people to pick candidates instead of the hannah's and blaine's, and the POPULAR PLEBISCITE---the subject of your post
the PROPOSITION process is very, very important here in california, the direct and extremely powerful and influential, unambiguous disposition of the voters
reagan, incidentally, comes from the outsider wing of his gop
he had to KICK IN THE DOOR to get where he got, he was NOT welcome by the northeast establishment, led by nelson rockefeller of ny
everyone knows the significance of goldwater-rockefeller, 1964
and where you were in the 1976 primary STILL defines you as a republican, if you're old enough
fyi, for what it's worth
