They were made when the majority of Americans were stupid and unethical.
> and yet still being used?
Because the old generation is still in power.
> How have we let it get to this point?
"the 1960s proved that change is hit or miss, every bloodied pacifist concedes the truth"
In other words, we've tried to fight the system and we lost because they fought[1] back[2].
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2016/03/23/nixons-dr...
[2] https://www.rt.com/usa/fbi-assassination-ows-sniper-227/
Looks at CA. The voters are even worse than the legislators.
http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-Article-II-9
However, our legislature has a fun little loophole for when they are going to pass a law they know the public will try to repeal through a voter referendum. They add a token appropriation to the bill.
http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/01/07/m...
Some examples from that article:
"From 2011 through 2014, unnecessary appropriations shielded a number of controversial bills from voter referendum. That includes right-to-work, the repeal of item pricing, the implementation of emergency managers and myriad anti-union laws."
"This past year, the Senate added a $75,000 appropriation to a bill that would repeal prevailing wage in our state, a practice that guarantees competitive wages to people working on public projects. The pretext? That appropriation was supposedly necessary to “disseminate information” to the public about the new law. The reality? Republicans knew voters would oppose the law."