Dr. Gustav Heinemann Quotes: Powerful Words on Popular Sovereignty and Democracy

„A people that is governed by a power must know the power by which it is governed. The people must direct and control that power. They must step in when it commits crimes; otherwise, the people become accomplices. The foundation of democracy is popular sovereignty, not the authority of a paternalistic state. It is not the citizen who stands in a relationship of obedience to the government; rather, the government is accountable to the citizen for its actions within the framework of the law. The citizen has the right and the duty to call the government to order if he believes that democratic rights are being violated.“

Gustav HeinemannDiscover powerful quotes by Dr. Gustav Heinemann on popular sovereignty, democracy, and the responsibility of every citizen.
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Gustav Heinemann was a German politician of the SPD and served as the President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974.

A powerful plea for popular sovereignty and the responsibility of every citizen to oversee the government and protect democratic values.


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Quote by Dr. Gustav Heinemann on democracy and popular sovereignty

Gustav Heinemann (1899–1976) was a German lawyer and politician (SPD). He served as President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974 and was known as a defender of democratic values and fundamental rights in the post-war era.

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"Freedom can never be completely safeguarded by rules and laws. It is as much dependent on the courage, integrity, and responsibility of each of us as it is on these qualities in those who govern. Every trait in us and our leaders which points to passive submission to mere power betrays democratic freedom. In our American system of democratic government, three different powerful branches serve to check each other, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. Yet when there is no will to prevent encroachment of the power of one by any of the others, this system of checks, too, can degenerate." Joost A.M. Meerloo
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"The fundamental problem with our democracy is that it is not one. The people—the nominal ruler and sovereign—have, in reality, nothing to say. … Behind the democratic façade, a system has been installed in which completely different rules apply than those of the Basic Law. The system is undemocratic and corrupt; it abuses power and unscrupulously deceives citizens. … Every German is free to obey laws to which he has never consented; he may admire the majesty of the Basic Law, whose validity he has never legitimized; he is free to pay homage to politicians whom no citizen has ever elected, and to provide for them lavishly—with his tax money, about the use of which he has never been consulted. Overall, the state and politics are in a condition of which only professional optimists or hypocrites can claim it has arisen from the will of the citizens." Prof. Dr. Hans Herbert von Arnim
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"No State can commit so many follies and deeds of violence as the democratic State, for it alone has the organic consciousness of its infallibility, sanctity, and complete legitimacy. Even the most absolute monarchy has limitations of a hundred kinds, in the personal consciousness of responsibility of the ruler (which under democracy is always put on the intangible "will of the people"), in the court clique, in the Church, in the advisers and ministers and "government circles" that inevitably crystallize around every potentate. Moreover, the fear of dethronement, which is theoretically always possible, affects every sole-ruler. But a treacherous circular reasoning protects the rule of the "sovereign people" from any limitation — it is in the right because it is the collective will, and is the collective will because it is in the right." Egon Friedell
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