Is Christie Whitman?

Chris Christie called this week for initiative and referendum and conservatives should embrace it regardless of their suspicions of him.

New Jersey is one of only a handful of states that does not allow its citizens to initiate new laws directly. Its Governor, legislature and supreme court have been therefore unobstructed in their decades-long march leftward.

With initiative and referendum -- especially in the new age of electronic communication -- voters can block, reverse and override their lawmakers. More importantly, they could, on their own, restore to themselves the powers held hostage by the corrupt political establishment.