We'll decide this ourselves

IF IT was a sunny day for Republicans, it was a greyer one for American exponents of a more direct form of democracy, the referendum system. Only 49 citizens' initiatives—proposals for new laws put forward by non-politicians—appeared on the ballot, in 24 states, compared with 69 in 2000 and 55 in 1998. And the voters' reaction was pretty sceptical. Proposed tax cuts lost (though some only barely). But many of the decisions had a conservative bent, striking down some brave calls for tax rises and a fair number of attempts to make social policy more liberal.