Letters to the Editor: Ten propositions are on the ballot. Don’t we have legislators for lawmaking?

To the editor: Recently, I finished reading through the 10 state propositions on my California ballot. In addition to “Yes” and “No,” I want a third option: “Why are you asking me?”

Take Propositions 34 (on spending prescription drug revenues) and 35 (on funding Medi-Cal services). I work closely adjacent to healthcare, and I cannot understand them. I also can’t understand why largely ignorant voters should be asked to make decisions about high-level healthcare issues. We don’t know the details or ramifications.

Could not the state Legislature — whose members we elect to represent us — deal with these matters? Isn’t asking uninformed individuals to make complex policy decisions dangerous? Don’t we know by now that many initiatives generate from deeply interested corporate pockets? Haven’t we had enough of unintended consequences?

These are the questions I ask myself every time I get my November ballot, and that’s why you’ll always find me refusing to sign petitions and largely voting “No.”

Heather Pegas, Los Angeles