Overwhelming Support of a Bad Idea by the Ignorant

We have in our state a certain segment of voters who think a 2/3 majority requirement for tax increases is a great idea.  Only problem is, they keep trying to change it through the initiative process which is our state is a laughable platform for the feeble-brained to see how many of their equally ignorant voter-buddies they can persuade to get behind the latest hare-brained but populist idea (if you are drunk enough or high enough on the state's latest cash crop).  Fortunately our state constitution has a clear-as-day statement that the legislature needs a simple majority.  What a boring concept to even have to repeat for a democratic, representative form of government.

Of course the idea itself is completely ridiculous - completely destroying the democratic process and putting any kind of wacko political minority permanently in the driver's seat.  The proponents like to point to the 'overwhelming support' the initiative got --  but given the generally paltry voter turnout for any election, the 'overwhelming majority of the vote turns out to be a pretty paltry number of the actual population.  And especially given the extremely low level of US citizen's knowledge about how government even works, one has to question just how useful or meaningful this vote was (or if these people should have been allowed to vote).  A 2011 poll by the Annenberg Public Policy Center showed that among the US citizens polled:

Only 38% could even name all three branches of the U.S. government: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

One-third (33%) were unable to correctly name any of the branches.

Among those who claimed to know the purpose and role of the three branches of government either very or somewhat well, only 50% could name all three branches.

When asked about presidential veto powers, only half of Americans (51%) know that a two-thirds majority vote by Congress will overturn it.

While 91% of Americans know that the U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States:

• Only 37% know that a Supreme Court decision cannot be appealed to the Federal Court of Appeals.
• Only 62% of Americans know that the U.S. Supreme Court is the final decider as to the constitutionality of a law.

Less than half know that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision know that such decisions have precisely the same effect as 9-0 ones.

Just over half are aware that Supreme Court justices usually announce their decisions in writing