Democracy rests on a vision. And all visions require hope. But it is not clear whether there is any deep or inherent affinity between the politics of democracy and the politics of hope. This is puzzling since in today’s world, the hope of becoming democratic is offered to many societies, even if this requires them to be invaded and remade at high cost to human life. Yet the relationship of hope, as an ethical and political principle, to the primary values of democracy is unclear. Let us consider democracy first from the point of view of the slogan “liberty, equality, fraternity.” Each of these values rests on the possibility that they are, in fact, achievable. Indeed, the slogan as a whole rests on the idea that these values are facts that have somehow been concealed or bypassed by human history and require only the sustained operation of reason for them to become transparent, compelling, and victorious. Yet none of these three values has anything special to do with hope, except in the instrumental sense that their appeal rests on the possibility that they are achievable. In this sense, democracy requires hope but does not seem to be built on it. Let us consider democracy apart from its slogans and more from the point of view of its governing concepts. These concepts include some utilitarian ones, such as those of the greatest good of the greatest number; some practical ones, such as the idea of active participation in deliberation and decision making; and some moral ones, such as the idea of “the rule of law.” None of these governing concepts has anything special to say about hope.