Assignment task:
The founding fathers based the Constitution of the United States on republican rather than democratic principles. In other words, laws were to be made by the representatives of citizens, not by the citizens directly. Yet whatever the intentions of the founding fathers may have been, eighteen U.S. states provide for legislation by popular initiative. For instance, voters can place legislative measures (and sometimes constitutional amendments) directly on the ballot as long as they get the required number of signatures on a petition. In addition, forty-nine states allow for referendums, a procedure that lets voters reject a measure adopted by the state legislature. Fifteen states permit recalls. If enough signatures can be collected, an elected official has to go before the voters, who may well vote him or her out of office. This is precisely what happened to Governor Gray Davis of California in 2003-a recall election propelled him out of office. The election took place because many of the same citizens who had elected Davis were unhappy with his performance and wanted him gone. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, however, did not meet the same fate in 2012 when he was the subject of a recall. Walker kept his chair in the governor's office. Implied Main Idea
1. Whatever the founding fathers had in mind, there are still several ways in which Americans practice direct democracy.
2. The founding fathers were fearful of a democracy in which the majority ruled.