Citizen empowerment.

• Position: List - Citizen participation in politics - List

Paul Jacob, president of the Citizens in Charge Foundation, did jailtime in the 1980s for refusing to register for the draft. Since then he's been working to curb politicians' power via term limits. Last year he was indicted for allegedly violating Oklahoma rules barring nonresidents from circulating ballot petitions. A federal appeals court struck down those rules in December.

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In February reason asked Jacob to list three barriers to citizen participation in politics.

1 Initiatives, referenda, and recalls are too rare: "Most U.S. cities have some form of these citizen empowerment tools, but most states don't. We need all three--so voters can act through the ballot to pass needed reforms, check laws passed by legislators, or replace an elected official posthaste."

2 Legislators limit petitioning: "Three separate federal circuit courts have overturned residency laws...