In 1787 American’s Founding Fathers completed the Constitution of the United States at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The U.S. Constitution is the oldest national constitution in the world.
Since the Constitution was ratified in 1789, it has been amended 27 times, including the first 10 amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights.
To amend the Constitution is not easy. First, a proposed amendment must be approved by two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Or, a constitutional convention can be called if two-thirds of state legislatures (34 out of 50) request it. This second option has never occurred.
After an amendment has been proposed, it must be ratified by three-fourths (38 out of 50) of the states.
This process ensures that amending the U.S. Constitution reflects a broad consensus across the country.
This is one example of how America is not a pure Democracy, but a Representative Republic. A pure Democracy can be associated with “mob rule.” That is why our founding fathers rejected this idea, called tyranny of the majority.
The last change to our Constitution occurred in 1992 — not that long ago. A relatively minor change to the Constitution, this amendment stipulates that any law changing the salaries of members of Congress can take effect only after the next election of the House of Representatives.
It is much different when it comes to amending the Missouri Constitution. Currently the Missouri State Constitution can be changed with a simple majority.
To approve a general obligation bond issue for cities and school districts in Missouri requires a “supermajority” — either a two-thirds (66.67 percent) or four-sevenths (57.14 percent) majority is required, depending on when the election is held.
This makes no sense. One is a permanent change to our state’s most important document. The other is temporary.
Democrats — many times with the help of out-of-state billionaires — have taken advantage of Missouri’s ease to change our constitution with a Citizen Initiative Petition (CIP) by focusing on centers of high population in the state. And who can blame them? They follow the rules.
In 2022, 13 counties and the City of St. Louis voted in favor of the Marijuana Legalization Initiative. It failed in 101 rural counties — including Crawford, Franklin, Gasconade, Maries, Osage and Phelps. The same scenario occurred with abortion and sports betting in 2024.
It’s time to change the rules with common-sense reforms and reflect the broad consensus of our state when amending our State Constitution, rather than allowing metropolitan centers to force changes that rural citizens disagree with.
On August 4, Missourians have the opportunity to amend the process of changing our Constitution with Amendment 4.
First, Amendment 4 does not eliminate the CIP. It will ban direct and in-kind contributions by foreign entities and foreign citizens to this process. The Sixteen Thirty Fund — supported by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss — donated more than $10 million to help pass Amendment 3 in 2024.
With the passage of Amendment 4, any amendment proposed by a CIP will still need a simple majority, but it must be a majority in each of the state’s eight congressional districts. That is important. That ensures that no Amendment will pass without broad support across the state.
The current initiative process is open to fraudulent and misleading actions for professional, paid signature gatherers and political operatives. Amendment 4 criminalizes signature fraud.
Amendment 4 does not change the majority needed for statutory or referendum ballot measures brought to the voter by a CIP, only amendments to the constitution by CIP. To change a law would still require a simple majority across the state.
The more I research the details of Amendment 4, the more I’m convinced that this is right for Missourians. It is not perfect, but Amendment 4 will go a long way to protect our constitution.
Know before you vote. The full amendment is printed in today’s newspaper. To learn more, visit www.FreedomPrincipleMo.org.
