Direct democracy disaster: Soros’ dystopian agenda creeps into red states

Forget about the presidential election — we can still fight back in some states if Kamala Harris wins. But if we don’t act to overturn the progressive ballot initiative process, where George Soros, his son Alexander, and their allies use a small percentage of the population to push poll-tested talking points as constitutional changes, we risk losing all 50 states to despotism.

Imagine voting yourself a pay raise through a ballot initiative. Imagine a process where just a small fraction of voters could gather signatures to create a constitutional right to handouts. Could you ever rally 51% to oppose such an idea, even in most red states?

Who wouldn’t want to tax wealthy companies for some free cash? This is the kind of 'elective despotism' our founders warned against.

A constitutional republic differs from a simple democracy because governance is filtered through elected representatives rather than the people directly. It also has a constitution that enshrines fixed rights, protecting them from the capricious whims of a manipulated majority. This is why our founders made changing the Constitution extremely difficult, requiring two-thirds of both houses to support an amendment and three-quarters of the states to ratify it.

However, in most states, changing the state constitution is much easier. A simple majority vote at the ballot box by the people can amend the state’s constitution. Thanks to the Progressives in the early 20th century, 21 states allow initiative petitions to put these changes to a vote. In 17 of those states, mainly out West, initiatives can directly change the state’s constitution.

As a result, a handful of well-funded special interests can easily gather the 5-8% of voter signatures needed to place a ballot initiative, often by targeting the most liberal areas of the state. They then use poll-tested, appealing language that avoids scrutiny through the legislative process, spend tens of millions on campaigns, and change the constitution every two years.

This ballot initiative process, detested by America’s founders, began in the early 1900s in Western states like South Dakota and Oregon. Over the past 100 years, California and Oregon have enacted the most ballot initiatives, with Oregon leading at 446 since 1904. These initiatives include measures like those in 2022 that stripped citizens of their gun rights.

In a single election, Oregon codified a “right to affordable health care” with Measure 111 and simultaneously eroded the right to bear arms with Measure 114. Proponents of both measures outspent opponents 30-1, and both passed by just one point.

This year, voters will face Measure 118, which proposes a 3% tax on Oregon businesses to fund a $1,600 universal basic income for citizens. The appeal is clear: Who wouldn’t want to tax wealthy companies for some free cash? This is the kind of “elective despotism” our founders warned against.

If you think it can’t happen in red states, consider the success of ballot measures on Medicaid expansion and substantial minimum-wage increases even in conservative areas. This year, Alaska, Missouri, and Oklahoma will vote on minimum-wage hikes, with several other states working through legal challenges.

Alexis de Tocqueville warned about pure democracy, where citizens would have “an ardent, insatiable, eternal, invincible passion for equality.” He observed that people want equality in liberty but will accept equality in slavery if that is all they can get. They will endure poverty, enslavement, and barbarism but will not tolerate what they perceive as aristocracy or others having more. Tocqueville advised that mob rule would lead men to prefer “equality in servitude over inequality in liberty.”

Beyond voting themselves pay raises, people are also making decisions on critical issues that are poorly vetted through direct democracy, which lacks the thoughtful approach of traditional lawmaking. For example, there are attempts to pass abortion-on-demand measures using misleading language in swing states like Arizona and Nevada, as well as in solid red states such as Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

Additionally, ranked-choice voting is appearing on ballots in Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, presented in a way that is too complex to adequately describe on a ballot.

Some states have proposed changes, including a ballot initiative in Arizona this year. If passed, Proposition 134 would require signatures from 10-15% of qualified electors in every legislative district to qualify a measure for the ballot. This requirement for more uniform support aligns with the spirit of the amendment process at the federal level.

While Arizonans will vote on front-end changes to the process, Utah citizens will decide in November whether to enforce more uniformity on the ballot results once a measure is placed on the ballot. Utah Republicans recently held a special session and passed a ballot measure that, if ratified by voters, would allow the legislature to overturn or modify ballot initiatives with serious fiscal impacts.

In recent years, Utah’s initiative petition process has been used to pass measures like marijuana legalization, Medicaid expansion, and the creation of an unconstitutional redistricting commission.

During the Utah debate, one effective proposal emerged that could serve as a model for other states: requiring that any constitutional amendment receive majority support in all the state’s legislative districts. This approach aligns with the federal system, which requires supermajority support from both Congress and the states. As James Madison noted in Federalist 39 when describing the uniqueness of a representative republic over a democracy: “It is essential to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it.”

Ultimately, action must be taken to stop the Soros family’s 50-state strategy to implement their dystopian, anti-freedom agenda. If we don’t prevent Democrats from embedding their influence in red states, we risk losing our republic to unchecked mob rule.