Power to the people: ballot initiatives

view on espresso.economist.com

Power to the people: ballot initiatives

• power to the people 权力归于人民；还政于民；权力属于人民
• ballot initiatives 选民公投

1. Americans will do more than pick officeholders today.

• officeholder 官员

2. They will also make policy themselves, voting on ballot initiatives in states and cities across the country.

• vote 投票

3. A big one is California’s rent-control proposition.

• rent-control 租金管制
• proposition 提议；主题；论点

4. Proponents point to huge numbers priced out of their homes, while economists say capping rents will exactly discourage the needed construction. (Polls show the initiative’s chances as less than even.)

• proponent 支持者；辩护者；提议者；主张者
• poll n. 投票选举; 投票数;

5. San Francisco will vote on taxing big companies headquartered there, with proceeds used to fight the city’s rampant homelessness.

• headquartered 总部设在某地的
• rampant 泛滥的；猖獗的；疯长的
• homelessness 无家可归的人

6. Loosening cannabis laws will be on the ballot in conservative places like North Dakota, Missouri and Oklahoma.

• cannabis 大麻制品

7. And Idaho, Nebraska, Utah and Montana—also deeply red—will vote on expanding Medicaid, part of the Obamacare reform loathed in those very same states.

• loathed 令人讨厌的

8. The “Evergreen State”, Washington, will vote on a carbon tax, and Florida may restore voting rights to felons.

• felon 重罪犯

9. In a diverse and divided country, states and cities remain vital laboratories of democracy.

• laboratory 实验室
• democracy 民主

不定期更新Espresso Economist上面的文章，请关注