A silent revolution

The presidency is not on the line, nor is the Missouri governor’s office. No statewide race is generating significant attention. Yet, the 2026 mid-term election will mark one of Missouri’s most consequential elections of my lifetime. Despite the fact that it has generated little national interest, the State of Missouri is in the midst of a silent revolution. In just a few days, Missourians will vote on a constitutional amendment that threatens to undermine its representative form of government and expose their state to the dangers inherent in pure democracy.

I’m talking about Amendment 6, one of five state-wide ballot measures that will appear before voters on Nov. 3. The amendment’s broad scope will have far-reaching effects on Missouri politics, and, subsequently, the lives of Missourians. It proposes dramatic limitations on the legislature’s lawmaking power, expands the courts’ ability to revise ballot language, and secures citizens’ “direct lawmaking power” as a “fundamental right.” In short, it weakens representative government and strengthens direct democracy.

In an effort to absolutize the voters’ right to propose constitutional amendments and make laws, Amendment 6 prohibits the legislature “from weakening citizens’ initiative or legislative powers.” This language prohibits any law that would make it more difficult for citizens to propose changes in statute or in the Missouri constitution—no matter how prudent or wise such legislation may be.

The legislature will also be prevented from providing statutory guardrails to regulate the judiciary’s role in reviewing and revising ballot language—the summaries printed on ballots that many voters use to determine how they will cast their vote. The amendment therefore gives expansive powers to the judiciary and invites future lawfare by permitting “courts to revise ballot summaries through lawsuits.”

Amendment 6 will further weaken the role of elected representatives by enshrining a highly unreasonable threshold for them to bring future laws and constitutional amendments before the people. In clearly stated language, it will prohibit the legislature from changing any law or amendment that was citizen-initiated as well as prohibit the legislature from proposing any law or amendment similar to one previously rejected by popular vote of the people unless it is supported by 80 percent of both the Missouri House of Representatives and Senate. Yes, you read that right—80 percent. You will search in vain for any such precedent—virtually anywhere.

Admittedly, Amendment 6 is cleverly written. It’s carefully crafted to appeal both to the anti-Republican sentiment on the political left and to the pervasive populist impulse on the right. But in reality, it’s merely a continuation of the same Progressive Era political philosophy that over one hundred years ago argued that Missouri’s representative form of government needed modification.

It is a matter of public record that under the veneer of “citizen-led” initiative petitions, the political left has succeeded in enacting policy proposals that would not have survived the legislative process. Where the Republican Party’s trifecta control of Missouri’s General Assembly and the Governorship has proved prohibitive to their policy agenda, the petition process has proved wildly successful. Such legislative efforts through ballot petition have led to the expansion of “Obamacare” (2020), the legalization of marijuana (2022), sports betting (2024), minimum wage requirements and mandatory sick leave (2024), as well as abortion on demand (2024). And now they want more.

If Missouri ratifies Amendment 6, the people’s representatives will not be able to bring back these constitutional amendments and laws for reconsideration by the people without support from 80 percent of Missouri’s House and Senate—an insurmountable hurdle. The architects of Amendment 6 know full well that in the current political climate, these and future policies will, in practical terms, become permanent.

But far from representing the organic “will of the people,” nearly all recent citizen-initiated petitions are the product of special interest groups whose out-of-state fundraising far exceeds their opponents. And rather than having to work through the arduous legislative process that refines laws through deliberation and debate—in two separate chambers—out-of-state-donors, unions, and special interest groups are able to exert their influence in a far more direct way than having to work through the legislature. Contrary to the claims of its supporters, Amendment 6 will not diminish “corrupt donor influence” but strengthen it.

Christians should be deeply concerned about this amendment. If it passes, then it is highly likely that even if Missouri’s ballot measure to reinstate protections for the unborn is approved on Nov. 3, it will be litigated and deemed unconstitutional because as a legislatively referred amendment, it does not meet the 80 percent required to bring such measures before the people.

So Missouri finds itself at a critical crossroads. We will either continue altering our political institutions to enact a novel form of direct democracy (which the American Founders vehemently rejected), or we will embrace our republican heritage and seek the preservation of ordered liberty through representative government. I am praying and working towards our choosing the latter—while we still can.