Liberal democracy must finally become the vital element of our

Hear the solemn words of Gustav Heinemann: “Liberal democracy must finally become the vital element of our society.” These are not the quiet musings of a man at leisure, but the proclamation of one who had walked through the valley of tyranny and witnessed the devastation wrought by its shadow. His voice carries the weight of history, for he spoke in a land still trembling from the ruins of dictatorship and war. Heinemann’s call was not for mere governance, nor for the sterile machinery of law—it was a cry for life, for a society where freedom and dignity are not ornaments but the vital element, the very breath by which a people may endure.

The origin of this saying lies in postwar Germany, where Heinemann rose not as a conqueror but as a servant of reconciliation. Having lived through the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the dark years of Nazism, he understood more than most the fragility of freedom when its roots do not sink deeply into the hearts of a people. To him, liberal democracy was not simply a structure of parliaments and constitutions, but the foundation of a society that honors truth, justice, and the inviolable worth of every person. His words stand as a commandment to future generations: democracy must not be an adornment, nor a hollow form, but the vital essence by which a nation is sustained.

The ancients too bore witness to this truth. Consider the fate of Athens, whose great experiment in democracy flourished for a time, yet faltered when citizens surrendered their vigilance. In the Peloponnesian War, fear and faction drove them to abandon principle, and demagogues led them astray. The lesson resounds: democracy survives only when it becomes the lifeblood of society, when each citizen holds it sacred and lives its virtues daily. Heinemann’s words echo across centuries to remind us that freedom must not slumber in parchment but be lived with vigilance and care.

A story from more recent times also illuminates his meaning. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, thousands of men and women surged into the night, not with swords, but with chants of freedom. They broke chains with their voices, with their unity, with their belief that dignity and self-determination belonged to them. This was the living heartbeat of liberal democracy, rising from the ground, unstoppable because it had become the vital element in their lives. Where guns and stone had long silenced them, their desire for freedom proved stronger than any wall.

Thus, Heinemann’s saying carries both a promise and a warning. If democracy is treated as an empty ritual—an election without justice, a voice without power—it will crumble, as the Weimar Republic did before the iron grip of tyranny. But if democracy becomes the vital element, lived in the homes, the schools, the courts, and the marketplaces, then it cannot easily be uprooted. It becomes the soil in which justice grows, the air in which culture breathes, the water that quenches the thirst of the oppressed.

What then shall we, the inheritors of this wisdom, do? We must not only speak of democracy but practice it in our daily lives. Let us listen to one another with respect, protect the rights of the vulnerable, and question authority when it strays from the path of justice. Let us raise our children not merely as subjects of law but as guardians of freedom. And let us never allow complacency, for the enemies of liberty are ever watchful, and they thrive where vigilance fails.

Therefore, remember this teaching: liberal democracy is not a gift to be received once and for all, but a living flame that must be tended daily. Let it become the vital element of your life, your community, your nation. Defend it as the ancients defended their walls, cherish it as you would the very breath of your lungs, for without it, society decays into darkness. And when you honor this call, future generations will bless your memory, saying: here were people who made freedom their very life’s breath, and by their vigilance, civilization endured.