Here are a couple of interesting passages from Michael Hardt’s introduction to The Declaration of Independence, which is part of a new series by Verso.
Human nature as it is now, which, as Lenin says, has been formed by subordination, must be made anew. The capacities necessary for democracy and self-rule, in other words, can and must be learned; they require education and training. Over time, Lenin explains, “observing the simple, fundamental rules of every-day social life in common will have become a habit.”
By bringing together rebellion and constitution Jefferson formulates a notion of revolutionary transition as something like permanent revolution or, more precisely, as the periodic renovation of the revolution. This transition never ends; in fact, Jefferson insists it must always be kept alive. Does that mean that the revolutionary process is continually frustrated, never able to reach its goal? No, because for Jefferson the transition has a clear direction but no endpoint. What we need to understand here — and this is perhaps the most important Jeffersonian insight for contemporary revolutionary theory — is that the means and ends of the transition are never separated entirely: democracy is the goal of the revolutionary process and, paradoxically, democracy is also the means of achieving it.”
