Thank you for your link. The Economist article is an anti-DD propaganda using California's problems to arouse anti-DD sentiments in the readers. The heading and the sub-heading say all:
"The perils of extreme democracy
California offers a warning to voters all over the world"
Do note that it is not talking about the incompetent of the California voters only. It is warning the voters of the world about "the peril of extreme democracy (DD)".
Best Regards
Eric Lim
From: Joshua N Pritikin <jpritikin(at)pobox.com>
To: wddm@world-wide-democracy.net
Sent: Fri, April 22, 2011 2:18:11 AM
Subject: Re: [WDDM] Ferocious Attack on DD by the Economist
On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 11:13:27AM -0700, lpc1998 wrote:
> Lessons from California
> The perils of extreme democracy
> California offers a warning to voters all over the world
> Apr 20th 2011 | from the print edition
>
> http://www.economist.com/node/18586520
I don't think this is a ferocious attack on DD-in-general as much as an
attack on California-style DD.
Too bad the article does not mention
http://www.healthydemocracyoregon.org/