This is a populist book. The premise on which this book rests is that modern democracy emerged from a reconsideration of the political capacities of ordinary people. Classical political thought had emphasized the centrality of human reason as the proper basis for political rule. The skepticism or wariness of the ancient theorists regarding democracy was grounded in the view that the rational capacities of ordinary people were limited and that this justified at most a limited role for them in political life and governance.

My claim is that modern politics begins with Machiavelli's attempt to find a new basis for justifying the participation of ordinary people in political life, and that Machiavelli found this new basis in a peculiar passion he called the sense of injustice. The common people may not know what justice requires, but they come to know what injustice feels like when they suffer it. Demeaning and undignified work, the visceral hatred of being bossed and pushed around, suffering the contempt of the powerful, forced to accept a raw deal—these are unmistakable parts of the political education of ordinary people. The experience of injustice, not the understanding of justice, is primary.