In 1778 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing was in a public dispute with Johann Melchior Goeze, the chief pastor of Hamburg. That year Lessing published 15 polemical writings against him. The duke then withdrew Lessing’s exemption from censorship and banned him from publishing on religion. In the same controversy, in Eine Duplik, a reply to the theologian Johann Heinrich Reß, Lessing wrote: Nicht die Wahrheit, in deren Besitz irgendein Mensch ist oder zu sein vermeinet, sondern die aufrichtige Mühe, die er angewandt hat, hinter die Wahrheit zu kommen, macht den Wert des Menschen. Not the truth that a person possesses, or believes he possesses, but the honest effort he has made to get to the truth makes the worth of a person.
A Remark About a Face
In September 2011, the CDU member of parliament Wolfgang Bosbach said he would vote against the expansion of the euro rescue fund. Days before the vote, the head of the Chancellery, Ronald Pofalla, told him: Ich kann deine Fresse nicht mehr sehen. I can’t stand the sight of your face any more. The remark became public, and Pofalla apologized. The Tagesspiegel called it a Verbalentgleisung, a verbal derailment.
The Party Says No to Its Leader
On 21 January 2018, the SPD held a special party conference in Bonn. The party leader, Martin Schulz, asked the delegates to approve coalition talks with the CDU and CSU. He called the vote a Schlüsselmoment, a key moment. Kevin Kühnert, the 28-year-old leader of the party’s youth organization, led the opposition from the floor. Heute einmal ein Zwerg sein, um künftig wieder Riesen sein zu können. Be a dwarf for once today, so that we can be giants again in the future. The delegates approved the talks by 362 votes to 279.
Any Objection?
In many German assemblies, a motion on procedure is settled quickly. After the motion, a member may give a Gegenrede, a speech against it. The student parliament of the University of Paderborn wrote the rule down in 2019. Gibt es gegen einen Antrag zur Geschäftsordnung keine Gegenrede, so gilt der Antrag als angenommen. If nobody speaks against a procedural motion, it counts as adopted. If someone does, the vote follows at once. The assembly rules of a Hamburg sports club allow one member to speak for the motion and one against, then a vote by show of hands or by standing up.
Outvoted Is No Excuse
From late autumn 1980, customers of a leather spray reported health damage. On 12 May 1981, the managing directors of the manufacturer met in a special session. The only item on the agenda was the damage reports. They decided unanimously not to order a full recall. In 1990 the Federal Court of Justice ruled on their responsibility. When several managing directors must decide on a recall together, each one is obliged alles ihm Mögliche und Zumutbare zu tun, um diese Entscheidung herbeizuführen, to do everything possible and reasonable to bring that decision about. A director who did not push for the recall is criminally liable. This holds even if the others would have outvoted him.