WASHINGTON — Students from universities and colleges across Boston joined tens of thousands of people from all around the country in a march on the nation’s capital on Nov. 4, calling on President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

The case of Israel raises some interesting questions about the role of popular opposition in the government's workings. Typically, we understand democratic governments — representative democracies, to be more specific — to be machines that enable the will of the citizens. When the public does not support a particular law, or at least when there is a majority opposition, proposals are, in effect, non-starters.