Mr. Mohammed Morsi, elected president of Egypt last year, has been removed from office. The powerful Egyptian military took action against their president, motivated by an apparent loss of support for him from the overwhelming majority of Egyptian people.

While the government that will now rule Egypt remains a work in progress, it is clear that Mr. Morsi, his supporters and others throughout the world must readjust their definition of democracy: "50 percent of the vote plus 1" is not a license to govern as they please. Democracy is more than the tyranny of numbers.

Mr. Morsi was one of Egypt's leading Islamic politicians when he ran for president in last summer's election. He prevailed in that ballot, receiving 51.7 percent of the vote in the runoff.