Democracy Loses in Egypt and Beyond

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- The framers of the U.S. Constitutionfeared that democracy could devolve into rule of the mob. Eventsin Egypt are a reminder of why that concern was justified.Essentially the same pro-democracy activists who enabled HosniMubarak to be removed from power in February 2011 have now donethe same to his democratically elected successor, Mohamed Mursi.In both cases it was the protesters who made the governmentvulnerable. And in both cases it was the army that delivered thecoup de grace in the form of a coup d’etat.

Even acknowledging that Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood-backed party did a poor job over their year in power, failing towin over opponents or broaden their base of support, the latestcoup is a tragic setback for democracy, constitutionalism andthe rule of law. The first protests of the Arab Spring werecalls to replace a dictator who had no democratic right togovern. The protests were inspiring not just because they said“enough” to a bad system, but also because the protestersaspired to replace that bad system with democracy. Many of theoriginal protesters were themselves secular or wanted a seculargovernment. But by calling for free elections, they openedthemselves to the possibility that the majority of Egyptianswouldn’t agree with them. That, in essence, is democracy: Themajority gets to choose the government it wishes, subject to theguarantee of minority rights.