In The Ideology of Democratism, Emily B. Finley argues that history's most vocal champions of democracy from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson to John Rawls put forth an interpretation of democracy that effectively transforms the meaning of "rule by the people" into nearly its opposite. Making use of democratic language and claiming to speak for the people, elites of one sort or another-politicians, philosophers, academics, religious, and many
others-advocate what they take to be the "genuine" will of the people, even if it defies the actual, historical popular will. This book examines the origins, underlying assumptions, and major thrust of this powerful ideology.