Editing Direct democracy (section)

===United States===
{{Main|History of direct democracy in the United States|Initiatives and referendums in the United States}}

In the [[New England]] region of the United States, [[New England town|towns]] in states such as [[Vermont]] decide local affairs through the direct democratic process of the [[town meeting]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2A35hJAR7u0C&pg=PR7|title=Real Democracy: The New England Town Meeting and How It Works|first=Frank M.|last=Bryan|date=15 March 2010|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=27 April 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9780226077987}}</ref> This is the oldest form of direct democracy in the United States and predates the founding of the country by at least a century.

Direct democracy was not what the framers of the [[United States Constitution]] envisioned for the nation. They saw a danger in [[tyranny of the majority]]. As a result, they advocated a [[representative democracy]] in the form of a constitutional republic over a direct democracy. For example, [[James Madison]], in [[Federalist No. 10]], advocates a constitutional republic over direct democracy precisely to protect the individual from the will of the majority. He says,

{{blockquote|Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.

[...]

[A] pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will be felt by a majority, and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party. Hence it is, that democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.<ref>[http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm The Federalist No. 10&nbsp;– The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection (continued)&nbsp;– Daily Advertiser&nbsp;– November 22, 1787&nbsp;– James Madison]. Retrieved 2007-09-07.</ref>}}

Other framers spoke against pure democracy. [[John Witherspoon]], one of the signers of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], said: "Pure democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the departments of state&nbsp;– it is very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage." At the New York Ratifying Convention, [[Alexander Hamilton]] was quoted saying "that a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is falser than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure, deformity."<ref>{{Harvnb|Zagarri|2010|p=97}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hamilton |first1=Alexander |last2=Childs |first2=Francis |title=New York Ratifying Convention, First Speech of June 21 |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0012-0011 |website=National Archives |access-date=30 April 2024 |date=21 June 1788}}</ref>

Despite the framers' intentions at the beginning of the republic, ballot measures and their corresponding referendums have been widely used at the state and sub-state level. There is much state and federal [[case law]], from the early 1900s to the 1990s, that protects the people's right to each of these direct democracy governance components (Magleby, 1984, and Zimmerman, 1999). The first [[United States Supreme Court]] ruling in favor of the citizen lawmaking was in ''[[Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company v. Oregon]]'', 223 U.S. 118 in 1912 (Zimmerman, December 1999). [[President of the United States|President]] [[Theodore Roosevelt]], in his "Charter of Democracy" speech to the [[Ohio Constitutional Convention (1912)]], stated: "I believe in the Initiative and Referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government, but to correct it whenever it becomes misrepresentative."<ref>{{Harvnb|Watts|2010|p=75}}</ref>

In various states, referendums through which the people rule include:
* ''Referrals'' by the legislature to the people of "proposed constitutional amendments" (constitutionally used in 49 states, excepting only [[Delaware]]&nbsp;– Initiative & Referendum Institute, 2004).
* ''Referrals'' by the legislature to the people of "proposed statute laws" (constitutionally used in all 50 states&nbsp;– Initiative & Referendum Institute, 2004).
* ''Constitutional amendment initiative'' is a constitutionally defined petition process of "proposed constitutional law", which, if successful, results in its provisions being written directly into the state's constitution. Since constitutional law cannot be altered by state legislatures, this direct democracy component gives the people an automatic superiority and sovereignty, over representative government (Magelby, 1984). It is utilized at the state level in nineteen states: [[Arizona]], [[Arkansas]], [[California]], [[Colorado]], [[Florida]], [[Illinois]], [[Louisiana]], [[Massachusetts]], [[Michigan]], [[Mississippi]], [[Missouri]], [[Montana]], [[Nebraska]], [[Nevada]], [[North Dakota]], [[Ohio]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Oregon]] and [[South Dakota]] (Cronin, 1989). Among these states, there are three main types of the constitutional amendment initiative, with different degrees of involvement of the state legislature distinguishing between the types (Zimmerman, December 1999).
* ''Statute law initiative'' is a constitutionally defined, citizen-initiated petition process of "proposed statute law", which, if successful, results in law being written directly into the state's statutes. The statute initiative is used at the state level in twenty-one states: [[Alaska]], Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, [[Idaho]], [[Maine]], Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, [[Utah]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[Wyoming]] (Cronin, 1989). In Utah, there is no constitutional provision for citizen lawmaking. All of Utah's I&R law is in the state statutes (Zimmerman, December 1999). In most states, there is no special protection for citizen-made statutes; the legislature can begin to amend them immediately.
* ''Statute law referendum'' is a constitutionally defined, citizen-initiated petition process of the "proposed veto of all or part of a legislature-made law", which, if successful, repeals the standing law. It is used at the state level in twenty-four states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, [[Kentucky]], Maine, [[Maryland]], Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, [[New Mexico]], North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming (Cronin, 1989).
* The ''[[recall election]]'' is a citizen-initiated process which, if successful, removes an elected official from office and replaces him or her. The first recall device in the United States was adopted in [[Los Angeles]] in 1903. Typically, the process involves the collection of citizen petitions for the recall of an elected official; if a sufficient number of valid signatures are collected and verified, a recall election is triggered. There have been four gubernatorial recall elections in U.S. history (two of which resulted in the recall of the governor) and 38 recall elections for state legislators (55% of which succeeded). Nineteen states and the [[District of Columbia]] have a recall function for state officials. Additional states have recall functions for local jurisdictions. Some states require specific grounds for a recall petition campaign.<ref>[http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/recall-of-state-officials.aspx Recall of State Officials], National Conference of State Legislatures (March 8, 2016).</ref>
* ''Statute law affirmation'' is available in Nevada. It allows the voters to collect signatures to place on the ballot a question asking the state citizens to affirm a standing state law. Should the law get affirmed by a majority of state citizens, the state legislature will be barred from ever amending the law, and it can be amended or repealed only if approved by a majority of state citizens in a direct vote.<ref>[https://ballotpedia.org/Statute_affirmation Statute affirmation], Ballotpedia</ref>