I’m seeing a lot of misunderstanding about the limits of a democratic mandate. In short, many people don’t seem to understand that there are limits. They seem to think that “the will of the people” is all that’s needed to enact any policy.
If you take that down to a more human level for moment, you can quickly see the folly of it.
Imagine ten people sitting around a table, and six of them decide to kill one of the other four. Well, the majority argue, we voted on it, so it’s a democratic decision: the minority can complain all it wants, but they lost and have to accept the result.
Everyone from all political sides will immediately see how wrong that is. We all feel it: it’s simply unfair.
Some things are beyond the reach of the popular will. They are more fundamental than “the will of the people.” They cannot be eliminated, not even by a democratic vote.
A democratic system is about more than just having everyone vote once every few years. It’s also about respecting that some things can’t be erased by that vote. Like human rights.
