BELL CURVE:Are petitions good for democracy?

I have no quarrel with the folks who sit at tables in front of my favorite supermarket and solicit my signature on a petition — even when they are being paid for this task and have little interest in the issue they are pushing. All of them — hired guns and passionate citizens alike — are taking small bites out of democracy by a process that has a rich history in this country. It started in Town Meetings 3,000 years ago and has morphed into petitioners in front of supermarkets.

Since I have some reservations about the current application of this process, I tried to clear my head by looking up "democracy" in the dictionary.

Webster defines it as "the free and equal right of every person to participate in a system of government often practiced by electing representatives of the people by the majority of the people."

Well and good. We're given a choice of practicing democracy by what is now a greatly oversized Town Meeting or by electing representatives to do it for us.

So what we need to do first is to examine the issue in question to see if it will meet the proper tests for an initiative. Is it of such magnitude that it will attract a significant number of voters — enough to say we are indeed tapping the will of the people? Is it technologically and economically complex enough to require study to cast an intelligent ballot? Is it susceptible to large sums of money more available to one side than the other? Are there clear and obvious special interests at work here to bring extra levels of both economic and emotional pressures to bear?

Addressing these questions leads to another one. Do you think there should be three sets of petition gatherers in Newport Beach rather than two? The third petition would go something like this: "The site of the new City Hall in Newport Beach should be decided by our representatives in government and not by direct vote of local citizens."

Maybe this could turn out to be a small step forward in answering the Forum letter writer who said: "Our system of government allows the initiative petition method when our elected representatives' decision can lead to a costly mistake."

In other words, when we don't agree with them. I don't think that was what the Founding Fathers had in mind.