This paper provides a reinterpretation of Paulo Freire's philosophy of hope and suggests that this interpretation may function as a fruitful ground for democratic education that aims to contest the prevailing neoliberal 'common sense'. The paper defines hope as a democratic virtue required for resisting the discursive practises and affective mechanisms associated with the contemporary neoliberal ethos--those, which Carlos Alberto Torres characterizes as the "neoliberal common sense" and Lauren Berlant as "cruel optimism". Conclusively, the paper constructs three principles for democratic education -- 'history as possibility', 'the ethics of intervention', and 'democratization'--which are intended to function as a foundation for democratic education through which the virtue of hope can be fostered. These principles are argued to form a basis for reviving the political dimensions of education and thus allowing collective transformative action.