Overheard

"In a radio program yesterday on CBC, a representative of the Canadian government put it starkly: In a liberal democracy like Canada, it is not appropriate to use a referendum to put decisions about minority rights to a majority vote. The government, she explained, has a responsibility to protect the constitution, to stand up to the tyranny of the majority for the rights of the dispossessed, disadvantaged and outnumbered."

WHO: Dave Pollard, on his blog, How to Save the World
AND? I still remember the definition of democracy I learned in 11th grade: Rule by the majority, with respect for the rights of the minority.