Legislative recall

The legislative being only a fiduciary power to act for certain ends, there remains still in the people a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative, when they find the legislative act contrary to the trust reposed in them. For all power given with trust for the...

Executive recall

Executive recall is a remedy whereby the electorate, upon realizing they have elected the wrong person, can remove the incumbent part way through his term. Experience shows this remedy is used sparingly; in the eighteen U.S. states whose constitutions provide for the...

Judicial reconfirmation

I am for responsibilities at short periods, seeing neither reason nor safety in making public functionaries independent of the nation for life, or even for long terms of years. —Thomas Jefferson. Letter to James Martin, Monticello, September 20, 1813. A proven method...

Punishment for heinous crimes

There is an obvious failure in representative democracy in relation to the punishment of heinous crimes. A small but vocal group believes that rapists and murderers deserve a second chance. Politicians wish to appear moderate, so they pick a middle position between...

Immigration by referendum

There are three main reasons why immigration levels should be taken away from the legislature and determined directly by the people: It is generally accepted that immigration must be restricted to a certain level (otherwise there would be open borders). Accordingly,...

Taxation by referendum

The whole practice of public finance has been developed in an endeavor to outwit the taxpayer and to induce him to pay more than he is aware of, and to make him agree to expenditure in the belief that somebody else will be made to pay for it. —Friedrich Hayek. Law,...