Recent events have been mounting an impressive case against referendums. Britain voted to leave the EU, Colombia rejected a deal to end its decades-long conflict with FARC revolutionaries and Hungary just said no to (modest) EU quotas for the resettlement of refugees. Poor choices all. These recent cases are not anomalies. They’re consistent with a history of bungled decisions and unintended consequences. California’s years of experience in putting ballot initiatives to a popular vote point the same way: the state is often, with some justice, called ungovernable. Referendums are not conducive to good government and are usually best avoided. Yet it is important to be clear about why they work badly. The reason isn’t that voters are too stupid to make hard choices, that professional politicians know best or that democracy is overrated — views that seem to be gaining currency and a fresh veneer of academic respectability. Such explanations are more dangerous than the botched plebiscite...
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