Í The Economist birtist leiðari um hið stóra og glæsilega Kaliforníuríki sem er á hausnum þrátt fyrir blómlega atvinnuvegi, Silicon Valley og Hollywood, og einstaklega hagstætt veðurfar.

Blaðið telur að ein meginástæðan sé þjóðaratkvæðagreiðslur sem eru notaðar til að leiða mál til lykta í ríkinu. Í leiðaranum segir að þetta sé viðvörun fyrir kjósendur alls staðar í heiminum. Niðurlag greinarinnar er mjög umhugsunarvert:

„More important, direct democracy must revert to being a safety valve, not the engine. Initiatives should be far harder to introduce. They should be shorter and simpler, so that voters can actually understand them. They should state what they cost, and where that money is to come from. And, if successful, initiatives must be subject to amendment by the legislature. Those would be good principles to apply to referendums, too.

The worry is that the Western world is slowly drifting in the opposite direction. Concern over globalisation means government is unpopular and populism is on the rise. Europeans may snigger at the bizarre mess those crazy Californians have voted themselves into. But how many voters in Europe would resist the lure of a ballot initiative against immigration? Or against mosque-building? Or lower taxes? What has gone wrong in California could all too easily go wrong elsewhere.“