Stuart – a small Florida town roughly halfway between Orlando and Miami – is an idyllic place. It was named USA TODAY's "best coastal small town" in 2024, and has finished high in the rankings in other years as well.

Friendliness used to be so entrenched in the town's culture that locals decided years ago to keep a roundabout in place at the baffling intersection of four roads and a set of railroad tracks – aptly named Confusion Corner – in part because they believed motorists were laid back enough to work out their differences without resorting to road rage.

Over the past couple of years, though, Stuart has been a community divided. It's a small-scale version of what's been happening across our entire country, with no resolution in sight.

Yes, the majority rules, but not always benevolently

In Stuart, what I call "the Rule of 3" began after a city election two years ago. Two new commissioners with no previous political experience unseated incumbents, forming a coalition with another commissioner who had frequently been the lone dissenter on the five-member body.

The election had consequences that were almost immediate. By a 3-2 vote, the commission backed out of a commitment it had previously made to support a station for passenger rail service in the city.

That was only the beginning. The commission, with the same split of votes, imposed a temporary moratorium on all new development, including situations in which landowners had proper zoning to build. The same three-member bloc pursued a plan to require all future development projects in........

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