The Basic Law has stabilized the foundation of social justice in Germany. Insofar asthe wealth of Germany grew, the welfare state was no longer concerned only with the sheer survival of its citizens, but with their quality of life. More than the police and judicial institutions, more than criminal law and the anti‐terrorism laws of recent years, this social “participation” has guaranteed the inner peace in Germany. The social state is not concerned with providing everyone with an apartment of equal size, a car with the same price, and a bank account with the same balance. But no‐one is to walk around bent so low that he or she cannot rise up under the burden of fate and go through life as an upright citien. A democracy without upright citizens is no democracy; therefore a democracy needs the social state. For a few years now inGermany, even the lawmakers keep forgetting this again and again. The parents of the Basic Law meant the social state to be not a suggestion or a demand, but a mandate for all time.
Christian Bommarius
