All of my neighbors and I are about to get a free book in the mail. It contains lurid passages about sex and drugs and guns and death, though it lacks characters or a plot. And we’re all going to be quizzed on it in 45 days.

I’m talking about the California November voter guide, which this year clocks in at 224 pages, thanks to 17 statewide ballot propositions—the longest ballot in a quarter-century. This morass includes multiple initiatives on the same issue, proposals to extend deadlines that the legislature has routinely extended itself, and ballot measures that force future policies to be decided by other ballot measures. In 2016, the Golden State’s experiment with direct democracy has imploded, producing little more than outsized salaries for a handful of political consultants. Somebody needs to tranquilize this beast and end our misery.

It’s supremely easy to certify measures for the California ballot: 365,880 signatures for an initiative and 585,407 for a constitutional amendment, in a state with over 18 million registered voters. A robust signature-gathering industry makes qualifying propositions a matter of raising several million dollars, a barrier for ordinary Californians but child’s play for the special interests that rule the process, a perversion of former Governor Hiram Johnson’s vision of direct democracy.

This year’s proliferation of propositions springs from a 2011 reform. The legislature moved all statewide propositions to the general election, rather than primaries. It makes sense to have the greatest number of voters decide statewide questions, but it generated pent-up demand for the November election.

You may have heard about some hot-button proposals, part of the endless search for the perfect wedge issue to drive turnout. Prop 64 would legalize marijuana for recreational use, following the lead of states like Washington and Colorado. Prop 61 takes aim at high prescription drug prices, tying them to the lowest price paid by Veteran Affairs. Prop 63, backed by Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, seeks to add additional gun safety laws, including strengthening of mandatory background checks, disarming of people ineligible to own a firearm, and permits to purchase ammunition.