California's initiative process isn't the only way to do democracy. You can argue that it's too easy to get on the ballot, or that representative democracy is better than direct democracy.
If you don't have some measure of direct democracy, and one which trumps the decisions of representatives, you don't have any mechanism within the system by which citizens can withdraw consent from the system imposed on them by the dead hands of their ancestors.
If you consider free, uncoerced consent of the governed important, direct democracy has no substitute.
One can, of course, debate implementation details, but for the same reason erring on the side of too easy to get a proposal on the ballot is better than too hard. If it's too hard, essential choices are denied. If it's too easy, then there is a challenging in focusing on the choices of importance, but nothing is denied.
If you consider free, uncoerced consent of the governed important, direct democracy has no substitute.
One can, of course, debate implementation details, but for the same reason erring on the side of too easy to get a proposal on the ballot is better than too hard. If it's too hard, essential choices are denied. If it's too easy, then there is a challenging in focusing on the choices of importance, but nothing is denied.