Are initiatives good for democracy

No, I don't think so. I live in California and we have a system that any initiative can be on the ballot with a set number of voter signatures. Some of these things are written by special interests and only help them, others are silly, and then there are the dangerous ones. These are the ones that mask as one thing on the surface, but really do something else. A few years ago we had proposition 57 that wanted to use discrimination against Hispanic immigrants. It passed, but went to the courts. This last year was one that lessened the prison time for nonviolent offenders. On the surface it sounds good, but since passage crime has gotten worse. The pot initiative passed this fall to make pot legal but cities are passing laws not allowing the sale of pot and the federal government is still arresting people.