• If there is a need for a transitional period on the road to majority support for democracy, how does a democratic minority maintain itself in power until the majority can be educated for democracy?
Democracy, which in its early stages is a fragile structure, came suddenly to Germany as a product of military defeat and the pressure of Germany’s enemies. To many Germans, it came as an uninvited guest. Walter Rathenau, the first Foreign Minister of the Weimar Republic, declared, “Now we have a Republic, the problem is we have no Republicans.” How can a democracy function when there are few democrats? The National Socialists (Nazis-National Sozialists ) claimed they were democratic because they had substantial popular support and by 1932 received more votes than any other political party. Otto Braun, the Prussian Social Democratic leader, argued that democracy was more than popular or even majority rule. He claimed it was the combination of representative government with the protection of basic civil rights for all. What does the term “democracy” mean today?
• How does a democratic government deal with terrorism and violent radical political groups who desire to destroy the democracy?
E. J. Gumbel, a statistician who supported the Weimar Republic, calculated that terrorists committed 454 murders in the early years of the Republic’s existence. Gumbel documented that, while judges were brutally harsh in their treatment of the small number of left –wing assailants in terrorist attacks, the same judiciary’s overt sympathy for right-wing terrorist violence seriously threatened the Republic. Were the pro-Weimar parties deceiving themselves in imagining that an apolitical judiciary was possible? Can a new democracy work with a fundamentally anti-democratic judiciary until a new one can be recruited and trained? Can democrats be too weak in their own defense? Can terrorism be successfully fought while maintaining broad civil liberties?
• In a democracy, what is the proper role of nationalism with its symbols, uniforms, music, and poetry?
Hermann Heller, a pro-Weimar lawyer, argued that nationalism was compatible with democracy and individual liberties. He believed that the Social Democrats, the largest of the parties supporting the Republic, should embrace nationalism. He argued that they could use nationalism to help to bridge the huge gaps between the classes in Germany. In an ironic comment on the reasons for the failure of the Weimar Republic, the diplomat and anti-Nazi, Erich Kordt, quipped that, had the Republic issued more uniforms and shown more flags, it could have survived. Could the leaders of the Republic have utilized nationalism and patriotism for positive democratic purposes and not yielded these powerful forces to anti-democratic elements?
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