This is a standard flip-flop. Conservatives swear we're not a democracy, we're a republic, we need Wise Old People as representatives, not mob action, etc. Until it's convenient to swear that the founding fathers wanted grassroots action at every turn, that people getting directly involved is the best kind of democracy, that insurrections by--

I'll stop there. Anyway, it's a phrase they trot out when things didn't go their way.