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And then do coalitions form to influence the popular opinion of specific things that might be beneficial to them?

In many US states, they allow ballot measures, but they are often worse than the options that would come out of the legislature because of the free for all nature of advertising for them and the general public's lack of knowledge of the details of the proposal. They do, however, allow issues such as gay marriage/pot to come up if it's too controversial for the legislature.

All issues? Even obscure, or technical laws? I'd love to hear more about how that works out. Certainly, the parliamentary system in Canada is a mixed bag.

Absolutely. The claim that the form of government in the United States is a "democracy" is one of the most impressive propaganda successes I've seen.

Switzerland has no requirement that political donations be reported, unlike the us. US states have referendums all the time.