A. Barton Hinkle on the Weirdness of Majority Rule
By early last week, a race once too close to call had become almost too close to comprehend. More than 2.2 million people cast a ballot in Virginia's contest for attorney general, but by Monday morning, Republican Mark Obenshain led Democrat Mark Herring by only 17 votes — a lead that appeared to vanish by week's end, when Herring inched ahead by 164 votes. A. Barton Hinkle says narrow elections like this can have broad consequences, and for those who care about the consent of the governed, that is one more reason to limit government's scope.