This election’s bewildering bevy of options further helps to dismiss the old dream that “the People” are the best architects of their own public policy.

Some, especially Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, laud initiatives for their flavor of direct democracy. While direct democracy is fine, voters are rarely given the tools to fully understand the measures or the resources necessary to judge their impact.

Some initiatives, like several on next week’s ballot, are disingenuous, misleading and even unconstitutional. They flaunt a veil of openness, but shoving something in front of uninformed citizens and asking them to vote on it doesn’t make for real transparency.

We urge voters to judge this batch of initiatives by their specific and often nuanced details, not the abstract principles behind them. While some are based on sound ideas, their technical mechanics and wordings make them duds.

For example, limiting tenure to only qualified teachers is a great idea, but Proposition 74’s inflexibility and extended probationary period for teachers makes for bad policy.

Fondness for the philosophical principles on which these initiatives may be based does nothing to make up for their structural flaws. This year, all of the measures deserve to be defeated.