KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For more than a century, Missouri residents have had the power to bypass the General Assembly and pass laws — including amendments to the state constitution — through a vote.
Some lawmakers believe voters are getting too good at it.
"The idea of a direct democracy does not work," Rep. John Simmons, a Washington Republican, said during a February House debate on a measure to make it harder to amend the Missouri Constitution.. "Our founders did not create a direct democracy and they debated and they learned and they studied history on what failed over the centuries.
