Whether The General Will Is Fallible

The general will:

• is always right
• tends to the public advantage

But it does not follow that the deliberations of the people are always equally correct.

Our will is always for our own good, but we do not always see what that is.

The people is never corrupted, but it is often deceived.

On such occasions only does it seem to will what is bad.

There is often a great difference between:

• the will of all
  • This takes private interest into account
  • It is a sum of particular wills
• the general will
  • This considers only the common interest

Take away from these same wills the pluses and minuses that cancel one another,[1] and the general will remains as the sum of the differences.*

The grand total of the small differences would always give the general will if:

• the people had adequate information in its deliberations
• the citizens had no communication one with another

The decision would always be good.

When factions arise, the will of each of these factions:

• becomes the general will of its members.
• remains the particular will from the States perspective

The votes then are from the factions.

A faction might become so great. In this case, the result is no longer a sum of small differences, but a single difference.

In this case, there is no longer a general will. The opinion which prevails is purely particular.

For the general will to express itself:

• there should be no partial society within the State
• each citizen should think only his own thoughts[2].

This was the sublime and unique system established by the great Lycurgus.

If there are factions, then there should be as many as possible. They should be prevented from being unequal. This was done by Solon, Numa and Servius.

These precautions are the only ones that can guarantee that the general will shall be always enlightened, and that the people shall in no way deceive itself.