Americans wanted control, and on Election Day '94 they grabbed what they could.
They voted to ship repeat criminals off to life in prison. Keep their handguns. Draw the line at casinos in their hometowns and encourage politicians to consider other careers.And, after a bitter and divisive campaign in California, they've yanked back the welcome mat for illegal aliens no matter how hard the immigrants want to work for the good life north of the border.
After a bruising, punishing political season, many Americans responded in kind when deciding scores of ballot issues in voting booths. They didn't want to pay a penny more at the movie house to create funds for breast cancer research in Oklahoma. They didn't want to pay 50 cents more for cigarettes in Colorado to fund health care for the poor or programs to quit smoking. A similar measure, taxing a pack of smokes 40 cents more, squeaked through in Arizona.
No issue, though, was more emotional than California's Proposition 187, which denies illegal immigrants access to public schools and most health amd welfare benefits. The "Save Our State" measure, approved by 59 percent of the voters, stirred some of the biggest protests since the Vietnam War and overshadowed the state's heated senatorial and gubernatorial races.
Gov. Pete Wilson trumpeted Proposition 187, arguing that the flow of illegal immigrants threatened the state's economy. After winning re-election, he rejected suggestions this debate had anything to do with intolerance.
"This issue was never about race or racism," he said. "To the contrary, Californians of every race and color and creed voted not just to send a message, but they voted for fairness and the rule of law."
But opponents argued the initiative would create a "Big Brother" atmosphere through provisions that require teachers, doctors and social workers to report illegal aliens to federal authorities. Several groups say they planned legal challenges.
If immigration was California's hot-button issue, the rest of the country was laid low by anti-incumbent fever as voters in several states imposed deadlines on how long their elected officials may serve.
Congressional term limits were approved in Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Nevada. Colorado voters lowered House limits to three consecutive terms from six and restricted terms for various local officials.
Voters in the District of Columbia and Spokane, Wash., also imposed limits on local officials.
Utah already limits terms and refused to tighten them further.
"I think across this nation people have determined that lifetime politicians should be a thing of the past," said Sig Rogich, a Las Vegas political consultant and former adviser to President George Bush who led the petition drive to put the issue on the Nevada ballot.
Frustrated voters also sought control over two issues with huge impacts on their lives: crime and taxes.
In Georgia, voters approved by a 4-1 margin the nation's toughest sentencing law, a "two-strikes measure" that mandates life in prison without parole for a second violent felony.
It was three strikes in California, where voters gave an approving nod to a law already on the books. The so-called "Three Strikes, You're Out" law orders prison terms of 25 years-to-life for three-time offenders. Voter passage makes it virtually impossible for lawmakers to alter the measure without another ballot referendum.
Oregon voters also got tough, enacting measures to stiffen mandatory sentences for violent crimes and put prisoners to work.