A big thank you to Current Concerns and Christian Fischer for the enlightening article “Protecting democracy – but how?” in the edition of 25 November 2020; for the fact that it is clearly stated: First of all there is the fundamental right to life . Only the living can exercise their fundamental rights. We are obviously living in a time in which it is necessary to make this clear again.
One who puts life at risk, his own and that of others, cannot seriously claim that he is committed to upholding fundamental rights and the continued existence of democracy. Perhaps the critics of the measures and deniers of the dangerousness of the virus need tutoring in history. At the beginning of modern state theories was the protection of the citizen (and his property) from the arbitrary law of the jungle. The basic task of the state with its monopoly on the use of force is to protect the citizen. Where the state no longer performs this task, there is arbitrariness, the life of the individual is no longer worth protecting.
The differentiated consideration is urgently necessary considering the facts, that on the one hand there is a virus, and on the other hand – parallel (and also before) to the measures to contain it –there is and was an abuse of power.
I think, the suggestions on how our democracy could become more “direct” are encouraging and groundbreaking. Everybody can start to get active.
Rita Müller-Hill, Cologne
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