It's even worse than that. Ballot initiatives, like all electoral endeavors, are extremely expensive, so most of what actually makes it onto the ballot are bill

It's even worse than that. Ballot initiatives, like all electoral endeavors, are extremely expensive, so most of what actually makes it onto the ballot are bills written by the exact same monied interests that would otherwise be lobbying the state government if we didn't have the initiative system. In a way, every "innovation" in democracy becomes a cheaper, simpler pathway for the same interests to run the game in their favor.