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After the Muslim Brotherhood gained 40 percent of the vote and the Salafis 25 percent in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, Rana Abdelhai, a student, told New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof that while she would never vote for a Muslim Brotherhood or Salafi candidate, “This is democracy now. We have to respect who other people choose, even if they make the wrong choice.” A few days earlier, Dalia Zaida, a young activist, made a similar comment to an NPR reporter, saying, “I'm worried, but you know, as someone who really believes in democracy, I have to respect people's choice.” Many others seem to share this view. Kristof considered Abdelhai’s observation “wise.”

Such observations represent a very basic but surprisingly common...