National Referendums

[imhotep]

Does anyone know when, if ever, there has been a national referendum on any issue?
I know we are a republic, but there are local ones all the time.
I have seen referendums in UK, Canada, the EU, so why not here?

[rogerashton]

1. Referendum,

like recall and initiative, was among the Populist reforms. It was adopted by some states (especially western ones) but never incorporated in the federal constitution.

Referendum is dicey, since it depends on who sets the terms of the referendum. Pretty much every dictator has held a referendum on his rule, gotten a 99% vote, and declared himself the people's choice -- with no alternatives, of course. That's why the populist reforms paired referendum with initiative. The idea was that the people could take over the process, put legislation to a vote, bypassing the legislative process. Like so many other things, it is proven that this approach is corruptible -- money to hire the petition-gatherers takes over the process, and we have things like the Gray Davis recall and prop 13.

What the populists missed is that we can never have democracy until we abolish large concentrations of wealth. Well, some populists missed it. Huey Long didn't.

Share the wealth! Every man and woman a king but no one wears a crown.