At the dire risk of sounding overly cynical, the situation as it exists is simply because we desire a representative form of government.  Consider:  if the Hawaii electorate, on average, isn't expected to think critically before casting votes for elected representatives, should we be at all surprised when poorly conceived rules and regulations escape intelligent scrutiny and are passed into law?  We see this happening over and over, with the much criticized (by all sides) plastic bag "ban" being just another example.

Sometimes as a society we get the results we rightly deserve.