Why according to Rousseau representation always illegitimate It allows someone else to make your choices The claim You chose that person who makes laws for you is unacceptable. Either the choices are yours or they are not there is no room for compromise This is not just an abstruse point Representatives may express their own will sometimes we praise them for this; sometimes, blame them. We speak of someone as being ahead of their constituents this may in practice be a virtue, But how can a democratic thinker justify it in practice? Maybe the result better, perhaps worse Certainly not expression of will of represented Rousseau's claim today is highly counter-intuitive, for we link representative democracy and freedom.