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Rosseau’s ideas are truly abhorrent to me, far more so than Hobbes. The reason is that while Hobbes goes to great lengths to explain his rather unappealing and even fascistic ideas openly, Rosseau is much more insidious. He hides his fascistic tendencies within seemingly wishy-washy pro-democracy text. It is astonishing that he would justify dictatorships in certain contexts. How can that be? Moreover, he believes that power is best concentrated in just one or two people. What kind of a concept is that? When compared, Hobbes appears less fascistic. At least he has to include at least twenty pages of disclaimers emphasizing that everyone is equal under the law and that everyone is held accountable. Under this perspective, some of Rosseau’s most philanthropic writing can even be seen as populist. I would be very interested to see a true Rosseau fan attempt to defend him. But, sorry, my friend, it just doesn’t work for me. In fact, he makes Hobbes look positively great.