If that was the case it would have been called a plebiscite rather than a referendum.
That it was in actual fact a plebiscite to those who actually understand this nuance isn't relevant to the "Brexit means Brexit" hordes who don't. Or to your friends and neighbours looking on aghast ...
> A referendum is structurally incapable of enacting policies with minority support, for good or for bad.
With a single-subject rule, that’s often (but not always) true; without it, it is less true, because policies can be packaged to achieve a combined majority, so long as there isn’t a majority that thinks it is important enough to defeat any part to overcome any support within that majority for other parts. (Even with a single-subject rule, this can sometimes be done, so long as the policies packaged relate to sufficiently closely related subject matter as to fit within the way the rule is applied.)
This is common in legislative bodies, and it works with citizen-legislators, too.
> if victory in a direct plebiscite isn't a legitimate basis for long-term constitutional change
The question is not whether a referendum outcome should legitimize change. The question is whether using the threshold of simple majority (50%) makes sense. Many constitutional changes throughout the world require a supermajority:
> Most referenda are run on the basis that a super-majority is required for any significant constitutional change.
What percentage was required in the Scottish independence referendum?
What percentage was required in the EU/EC exit/remain referendum of 1975?
What percentage was required in the referendum to join the EU/EC in the first place, in 1973?
(The latter being a trick question. There was no referendum to join at all, zero, yet a majority being required (and achieved) to leave is deemed a "horrific travesty of democracy" by people who voted differently.)
> the direct vote of all the members of an electorate on an important public question such as a change in the constitution.
> ROMAN HISTORY: a law enacted by the plebeians' assembly.
saved you a click
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