Tea partiers rail against taxes, deficits, and a government unmoored from its found-ing principles. But offered a chance to buck the system, would they grab it? Not necessarily. In 14 states, residents periodically have the right to torch their constitutions and rewrite them at conventions that exclude sitting politicians. These ballot initiatives, which stem from the Jeffersonian ideal that "every law naturally expires after 19 years," are active in a record four states this fall. Curiously, however, they seem destined to fail in all of them.
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