MIGHT BALLOT PROPOSALS SHOW DISGUST WITH LEGISLATURE?

If various interest groups have their way, Michigan voters next year
may be faced with having to decide:

. Whether to legalize marijuana use for medical reasons;

. Whether to repeal the state ban on embryonic stem-cell research;

. Whether to approve a constitutional mandate to ensure every
Michigan resident has affordable, comprehensive health-care coverage;

. Whether to give voters the power to repeal tax increases passed by
the Legislature and signed by the governor;

. Whether to get rid of the state's full-time Legislature and replace
it with a part-time body, and repeal term limits; or, alternately

. Whether to get rid of the state's full-time Legislature, replace it
with a part-time body, but without repealing term limits.

The Michigan Board of Canvassers is expected to meet next week to
discuss a number of the petitions that groups plan to circulate next year.

With the exception of perhaps the medical marijuana and health-care
petition drives, the rest are variations on a common theme: The
Legislature is doing a lousy job.

The proposed petitions mostly either seek to undo what the
Legislature has done -- banned embryonic stem-cell research and
raised taxes, for example -- or to undo the Legislature itself.

It's not hard to understand why the public is unhappy with the
Michigan Legislature. We have found that since term limits purged
every well-seasoned lawmaker from the House and Senate, the
competence of the Legislature has plummeted. Legislative leaders have
not been able to meet deadlines, have not been able to craft
agreements that will stick, have rammed through complicated
legislation without analyzing or understanding the potential impact.

The state ballot in 2006 -- which had on it bans on affirmative
action and same-sex marriage -- may have indicated it was the Year of
the Culture War.

But so far, if next year's ballot shapes up the way it appears to be,
2008 could end up being the Year of the War on the Legislature.

If we're called to such a war, there'll be no question about the
existence of WMD: Wasted Months of Dithering.