Sure there are risks - like having John Kerry run for president against George Bush. And, even though an astonishing majority of Americans have no clue about budgets, economics and the like, I have reached the point at which I trust the American voter to do the right thing much more than I trust the lying thieves we elected to represent our interests.
Plus, it would likely force Congress to reveal all of those "off-the-table" items that fund shadow agencies and schemes that we aren't supposed to know about but pay for.
This stuff has got to stop. And, since our elected representatives don't want to do the job we sent them to WA., DC to do, we'll do it for them and take back some of the extraordinary salary they award themselves.
That's captalism and business at work!! And the members of Congress need to learn about those things.
IMHO, the American voter mix is about 2.5% off of being idiots, and the other half feel similarly.
The grave danger, however, is if you put a measure up which said that everyone else would make double what white males do, (including white women), what are the chances it would NOT pass? Zip, zilch, nada. The 51% female vote would pretty much clinch things.
There are very good reasons why everything does not come up for a popular vote.
That said, I agree there is a need for reform.
How about this (for a start):
1: A bill can only deal with one subject. No tacking on pork gimmies, no riders unless they deal with the subject of the bill. A highway bill deals with highways and their funding, period.
2: For every law passed, two must be repealed.
3: The authors of the bill shall write quizzes on the substantitive portions of the measure. Any legislator unfamilliar with the measure is disqualified from voting on it.
4:The bill shall be provided in current written and/or electronic form at least three weeks prior to voting on the measure. The full text of the bill with links to pertinent laws shall be made available to the public online, and an open online forum provided for rational comment/critique by the public, who just might be more familliar with the impact of a specific measure than the Congress.
It would surprise the bejeebers out of me if even one third of the Congress knew the measures they vote on or their potential impact.