That type of analogy applies to the animal world. I've yet to see any animal species have a vote to decide policy.  Applied to the population of the UK..well, that kind of thinking would probably lead to a civil war. We do have a democratic process, which works perfectly well when we have elections. We don't have the losing party complaining and wanting a re-run in Parliamentary elections, do we? So what is so different about this referendum? Democracy has to prevail, whatever election or referendum it is applied to....otherwise we may as well ditch it and have the kind of mob rule that you allude to.