> There are quite a scattering of people who dream of what they call
> refoundation -- and these are people who unlike Dean have actual experience
> in mas politics, who aren't sitting on the sidelines. It's sort of sad.
Refoundation is an excellent summation of what Dean seems to be after: of the party, of discipline, of directed movement. Of course refoundation is fundamentally conservative. As are certain definitions of revolution. As Arendt pointed out a long time ago, the political use of the word revolution originally derives from astronomy, meaning a return to the beginning or return to a certain point. For the American and French revolutionaries, this meant a return to Rome; for Dean and others it means a return to the party and other forms from 100 years ago. Both moves are attempts to give form to an uncertain present and to seek security from and control over its striations.