{"id":72215,"date":"2026-05-07T08:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T06:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/?p=72215"},"modified":"2026-05-08T11:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:37:09","slug":"democracy-has-a-driver-and-responsibility-always-a-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/democracy-has-a-driver-and-responsibility-always-a-face\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy Has a Driver and Responsibility Always A Face"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the past quarter-century, Werner K\u00fcppers has been the driver of the Omnibus f\u00fcr Direkte Demokratie in Deutschland [Omnibus for Direct Democracy in Germany]. Enno Schmidt spoke with him about his experiences with people on the street, about responsibility, power, and social practices that grow out of real democratic processes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For 25 years, Werner K\u00fcppers has been driving a Berlin double-decker bus across Germany. A shiny golden brass strip runs around the white bus above an inscription in large green letters: \u201cOMNIBUS FOR DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN GERMANY.\u201d K\u00fcppers fell instantly and hopelessly in love with this white beauty and its golden belt in the fall of 2000, during the \u201cMehr Demokratie in Th\u00fcringen\u201d [more democracy in Thuringia] referendum\u2014the first referendum in one of the then-new federal states of Germany. 363,123 citizens demanded that the thresholds for statewide referendums be lowered. Claudine Nierth, from the association Mehr Demokratie, had gotten the second bus of this kind on the road. The first (blue) Omnibus for Direct Democracy was created through the initiative of Brigitte Krenkers. She traveled in it for seven years, setting off in 1987 next to the first and last trees of Joseph Beuys\u2019 art project, the \u201c7000 Eichen\u201d [Oaks] tree-planting initiative at Documenta 8 in Kassel. After the campaign in Thuringia K\u00fcppers took up the wheel of the second bus\u2014the \u201cWhite Whale.\u201d He not only drives but also lives in the bus and visits about 100 cities a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In keeping with the literal meaning of \u201comnibus<\/em>,\u201d which is Latin for \u201cfor all, with all, by all,\u201d K\u00fcppers has spoken with countless people about direct democracy over the last 25 years of his travels. One could say that his work with the Omnibus is also in the spirit of Beuys\u2019 \u201cexpanded concept of art\u201d as a practical contribution to the work on \u201csocial sculpture.\u201d<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Since 1949, Article 20, Paragraph 2 of the German Basic Law has stated that we exercise our state authority through elections and referendums, but only elections are regulated by law. The Omnibus carries a legislative proposal to regulate referendums with more than a million signatures in support of its implementation. At its core, the aim is to ensure that every person has the opportunity to participate in shaping the community in a legally binding and peaceful manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Werner K\u00fcppers:\u00a0<\/strong>If we want to talk about democracy at all, then we have to recognize that we are all responsible for all. By handing over our vote as a blank check to political parties, we outsource our responsibility. That outsourcing can only go awry. A prerequisite for emancipation is a sense of personal responsibility, but one where responsibility isn\u2019t viewed negatively as a kind of burden\u2014as something we dread and want to avoid whenever possible. But that is exactly what we\u2019re doing when we cast our vote: we\u2019re outsourcing our responsibility. Yet responsibility is wonderful! Responsibility means we face reality. We face the present and engage openly with it. Not with concepts, but with the trust that life itself will show us the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enno Schmidt: Through a process of dialogue . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

K\u00fcppers:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes. And dialogue isn\u2019t about Person A talking while Person B can hardly wait for the other to stop talking so they can present their counterarguments. Dialogue means being able to first listen actively, not accepting any hierarchy, and not following any gurus or authorities in any way\u2014only following oneself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that the actual beginning of democracy? The difference between parliamentary and direct democracy is that the latter includes every human being.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every human being. How do we manage our affairs peacefully and collectively? When Quakers face a social problem, they sit together in silence until the solution emerges. There you have those qualities of patience and fundamental trust in the social process, not a speculative attitude of \u201cThe people have no idea; they aren\u2019t capable of doing this.\u201d Or: \u201cI\u2019m not smart enough.\u201d In any case, there is no such thing as a \u201cstate\u201d of democracy; rather, it\u2019s a process that we, as a collective, are responsible for. It\u2019s not like there are any experts on democracy, anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what about you? Are you an expert on democracy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve changed a lot over the years. I don\u2019t argue anymore, and I don\u2019t get into verbal debates. For every person who comes to me, I have to create a complete blank and not judge or condemn anyone\u2014not even based on anything this person or that person might say. I haven\u2019t consumed any media for years, and I\u2019m only exposed to the news indirectly through the people I talk to. For example, at one moment suddenly everyone\u2019s in a frenzy because, supposedly, some guy\u2014probably with an immigrant background\u2014stabbed somebody. That was on the news. To me, it comes across like they’re just grumbling. First of all, they can\u2019t even verify if it actually happened. And second, there\u2019s nothing they can do to change it. So, what exactly is interesting about that? I just let those things go by. I look at the person and ask myself, \u201cWhat do we have in common? We have, I\u2019d say, 95 percent shared interests. \u201cDivide and conquer\u201d is the trick used to block that. In that sense, it\u2019s a labor of patience just to begin to introduce a calm thought. For someone to actually think\u2014and think: \u201cAha!\u201d Sometimes it can take a whole day for a person to form just one new thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it that we have in common?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That we actively care for the area, for the city or the neighborhood where we live, and want to solve its problems step by step\u2014no matter how small they may be\u2014and that we want to do so peacefully. We have no reason to be proud of anything we do if we are not able to get along peaceably with one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, your light shines on the free human being who works with others to get things done?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t approach people on the street with overly abstract concepts and ideas, but I can connect with them on a heart level. This applies to all kinds of people. They tell me stories from their lives that I can draw on for weeks to come.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Werner K\u00fcppers hard at work. The bus collected 5,555 signatures in 10 days for the \u201cHamburg werbefrei\u201d [Hamburg Ad-Free] referendum. Photo: Provided by third party.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

You have a real interest in people?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where it all starts. I love human beings and I\u2019m interested in them. I don\u2019t judge them. I don\u2019t pigeonhole them. I don\u2019t say, \u201cI won\u2019t talk to him or her.\u201d Of course, there are tense situations sometimes, but that generally doesn\u2019t change my position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you do when you hear arguments like, \u201cReferendums are dominated by demagogues.\u201d Or: \u201cThen the death penalty will be reinstated.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I used to argue and debate, those things always came up. Now they don\u2019t come up at all. I have a different aura about me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, people used to encounter someone who advocated for direct democracy. Who do they encounter now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now they\u2019re encountering someone who actually embodies it. Someone who doesn\u2019t even have to explain why or what the specific issue is, but who stands as the embodiment of the principle itself. Stories start popping up, the ones from yesterday\u2019s news, about how terrible the AfD [Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland] or Putin is. They explode into the conversation like hand grenades. You have to be really skilled to keep it together, to make sure it doesn\u2019t completely derail. When topics like that come up, I try to explain that democracy isn\u2019t a quantitative issue, where \u201cthe majority beats the minority\u201d\u2014which, after all, is just a metaphor for war\u2014and that I can\u2019t imagine casting my vote for a party that then just ends up doing whatever it wants anyway. To me, everyone who does that is the same. I see no qualitative difference between a Green Party voter and an AfD voter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the question isn\u2019t about whether to vote for the Greens or the AfD?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And not about being to the right or to the left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it part of your nature to break down such categories and get down to specifics?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. And also to take seriously Joseph Beuys\u2019 oft-quoted phrase: \u201cEvery person is an artist\u201d\u2014and to put it into practice.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Werner K\u00fcppers, the bus, and the cows. Photo: Michael von der Lohe.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In a human encounter, something new is created that can\u2019t be predicted. And it doesn\u2019t serve any predetermined purpose. Except, you are also collecting signatures to introduce popular votes at federal level.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two levels, one is quantitative. In every conversation, I do also ask about money. That brings every conversation to the level where it absolutely belongs. The more intelligent conversation partners end up bringing this question up on their own: \u201cBut how are you even doing this? A bus like that must cost a lot of money.\u201d Or they initially assume that I\u2019ve been put there by someone who\u2019s paying for everything, as if I\u2019m a \u201cpropagandizer\u201d in the pedestrian areas, and then, in the evening, I go home or to a hotel. The moment they realize that I live in the bus and how long I\u2019ve been doing this, they don\u2019t ask me any more questions like that. There are the most hardened types who say, \u201cEverything\u2019s going down the drain here. I\u2019m getting out of here. I\u2019ve got enough money, anyway.\u201d But they still tell me I absolutely have to keep going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because they can tell I\u2019m hitting a nerve. And because they can tell I\u2019m not just somebody babbling on. I don\u2019t try to persuade them; I don\u2019t try to talk them round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they\u2019re not saying, \u201cKeep going! Then we\u2019ll have direct democracy, and everything will get better.\u201d But they’re saying, \u201cKeep doing this. Not because it\u2019s going to change the whole world on a grand scale, but because what you’re doing already is a change.\u201d It\u2019s a fundamental human transformation. You once said that one must discover what the other person\u2019s question is. So, the process is that the other person gets to ask their question?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why there\u2019s a golden question mark on the front of the bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen for myself that when people hear the term \u201creferendum,\u201d a vote by the people, they quickly start sharing their life experiences and problems, pouring their heart out, because they feel they are personally addressed by this topic.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is such a tendency\u2014because loneliness and depression are the most terrible and widespread ailments. In such situations, I\u2019ve gotten better and better at steering the conversation toward our actual work and, in the best sense of the word, being bold\u2014that is, not feeling ashamed to say, \u201cHey, Omnibus, that means for all, with all, by all. And without you, that isn\u2019t going to work! So please take this to heart.\u201d Otherwise, it rarely happens that people actually feel addressed. This all brings it to the point where they understand, \u201cHey! He really means me!\u201d With my own plans about what I want to say and preconceived ideas about other people, I\u2019m just getting in the way. What it actually comes down to is not starting from myself at all, but rather starting from the other and approaching everything I learn about them with genuine interest. Only then do we step onto common ground.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo: Provided by third party.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

You once said, \u201cAn omnibus is like an apparition\u2014and it\u2019s most beautiful when you least expect it. All of a sudden\u2014there it is.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, like it\u2019s from another planet. And I\u2019d say that wherever the bus goes, the place becomes different. But the bus doesn\u2019t just sit there\u2014it\u2019s really installed<\/em> in the place because it also relates to its surroundings. I get it into place inch by inch, so everyone\u2019s wondering, \u201cWhat is he doing?\u201d Or they say, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you just park it at an angle like this?\u201d And I say, \u201cNo, no, an angle just won\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an installation in architectural, social, and temporal space. First, the invisible comes: its arrival, anticipation, a space of foreboding. Then it\u2019s there: wonder, a space of encounter, a space for thought. Then, it\u2019s gone, but something\u2019s left behind, something, again, invisible. A lingering echo of the figure, the experience, the spirit that was there. And that\u2019s nourishing. The work is not some big bell, \u201cDirect democracy is great\u2014someday!\u201d But rather, \u201cIt\u2019s already happening now.\u201d The now is the reactor of this field of democracy. That is its flash point.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I think \u201cflash point\u201d is a good way to put it. Then you get down to the individual person. What is a human being? We haven\u2019t really answered that question yet. True democracy means taking responsibility, creative curiosity, and an interest in everything\u2014especially an interest in other people\u2014as well as a delight in mysteries and a sense of awe for creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From where do you derive your work? What\u2019s its source? It doesn\u2019t seem to be so much a political or even moral imperative\u2014but rather, a life-giving source.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, giving life, vitality\u2014and trust. A sense of life implies that the individual feels addressed and included as a human being. My image of society is like \u201cBolo\u2019Bolo.\u201d [Bolo\u2019Bolo<\/em> is a book by Swiss author P. M., which outlines a plan for utopia.\u2014Note by Schmidt.] It\u2019s a model of cells, communities, and regions distributed across the planet like honeycombs, interconnected, and operating under a system of delegation all the way up to the global level. At the level one stage up nothing can be decided about the level below; instead, everyone must first reach agreement at their own level. In my view, the most important thing is to discuss factual issues at a certain level to prevent everyone being forced into an ideological straitjacket. How are we going to learn how to do this, except through practice? There is, of course, the so-called principle of subsidiarity. It says that solutions must be found and financial resources provided where the problems exist. But the federalism in Germany is exactly the opposite. Here, the federal level dominates everything; only crumbs trickle down to the municipalities. I travel from place to place and always have an unbiased view of each location from the outside. There actually is already a great deal of direct democracy. 9,000 citizen initiatives in cities and municipalities means\u2014since you have to collect an average of 3,000 signatures per citizen initiative\u2014that millions of people have already had practical experience with what it feels like to engage with their fellow citizens on real issues. An incredible amount is already happening at the local level. That\u2019s where we also have the greatest democratic leeway, even without direct democracy. But you can\u2019t get to the really important issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would require nationwide referendums. Your honeycomb model is the opposite of a one-world government, in which the world\u2019s population is reduced to nothing more than a guided, controlled, and diminished mass. Your goal is to revitalize politics and the community through self-governance based on equal rights. You also told me about your exploration of your microbiome\u2014your fellow living beings\u2014and how you haven\u2019t been sick for the past 25 years. You said you\u2019d come to realize that health is something subjective, that your health is different from my health. But I also remember the time before you joined the Omnibus. Back then, your life had hit a dead end.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d reached the point where I was completely bored, found everything around me awful, and couldn\u2019t see a way forward. I was so at the end of my rope that I actually sent out a cry for help to Michael von der Lohe: \u201cCan you come pick me up here?\u201d That was a real breaking point. But I also had to jump ship. On the one hand, there was a cry for help; on the other, I had to leave everything behind. Now, I no longer have a home in one fixed place. I\u2019m always in the bus, on the road. That is simply existential. If you want to do work like this, you have to put your life on the line. When I say \u201cput your life on the line,\u201d I really mean life\u2014not just survival. Above all, it\u2019s about opening all your senses and being fully present. And then you can find beauty and connection everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Omnibus for Direct Democracy in front of the Goetheanum. Photo: Provided by third party.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Your work constantly revolves around moments of intense crises, what\u2019s called the zero point or a threshold, the passage through nothingness. You put your life on the line in such a way that, as you said, you lay yourself bare before everyone, set aside all your own certainties in regard to judgments and arguments, and stand present as a human being, starting out from the side of the other person and letting them arrive at their own question. So, you never know what comes next.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I ask myself who my customers are now\u2014if I have any\u2014they are, as they used to say, the \u201clittle people.\u201d They are the ones who keep things running here. They run small enterprises; they\u2019re workmen, nurses, farmers, or something like that. These are honest folk who are doing their best to raise their children properly and so forth. And an incredible number of them are appalled by Berlin politics. The potential for change lies in everyday life. I see potential points of connection everywhere, such as community-supported agriculture, self-managed schools, and neighborhoods where people take matters into their own hands. For example, I once stood in front of a huge prefab building in Berlin. It\u2019s like a stacked village, but the people there don\u2019t greet each other and don\u2019t know one another. If they were to ask themselves, \u201cDo we have a problem here, and if so, what is it? What can we do about it? Who wants to do this?\u201d\u2014then, something would start. If we have a shared practice, then we\u2019re no longer manipulable. When something like that emerges you can build on the practical aspects to develop all sorts of things\u2014and then opportunities arise. Everyday life is my playground. Everyday life is the present, the only time when anything practical can actually happen. The insight I\u2019ve discovered from my work is that everyday life is truly interesting, everywhere. It all depends on how sharp your perception and observation are. I\u2019m also interested in the history of places where I am with the bus, the urban planning, and architecture, and I try to take in as much as possible and explain to myself why people in this city are the way they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a film starring you in which you\u2019re riding the bus down tree-lined avenues, describing the trees, and feeling completely at one with nature. Are you always in tune with what\u2019s actually there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. And I never know what’s going to happen next!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that doesn\u2019t worry you either.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. On the contrary, improvisation is the freest form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always in the present. When you\u2019re focused on the here and now, you don\u2019t feel the need to know what\u2019s coming next, because you\u2019re focused on the here and now, and isn\u2019t that all that matters?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, exactly. And that calls for endless patience and humility. The whole thing is like a never-ending learning process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s it like when the bus stops somewhere?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll be stationed in a pedestrian area or a market square for two or three days. The bus is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day. In front of the middle of the word \u201cVolksabstimmung\u201d [Referendum] on the bus, we set up a table with four chairs in a semicircle along with a standing table in front of the rear axle. This setup has evolved organically\u2014like a total work of art. If something is postponed, the negative effects are felt immediately. Two of us are supposed to stand in front of the bus, \u201cproactively ready to talk,\u201d and be open to everyone and every question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t run the Omnibus on your own; you have a constantly changing group of young people with you, whom you call your \u201cband.\u201d What\u2019s the story with that?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the heart of our work is about developing one\u2019s voice, I tend to use musical metaphors. Without my \u201cbands,\u201d I would have been dead long ago\u2014they are my guardian angels. We live together in cramped quarters with no privacy, in constantly changing lineups, with an average age between 16 and 25. We have to find our own harmony each time\u2014what you might call a \u201cgroove\u201d in English. In order for our work with the audience to be successful, the band has to find its own groove first. And because one of my guiding thoughts is, \u201cAlways stay nice and relaxed,\u201d I prefer syncopated, laid-back \u201cmusic\u201d for the band\u2019s groove that improvises our shared and ever-changing daily life in a friendly and calm way. Social practice. I wouldn\u2019t have been able to unfold at all without my \u201cbands.\u201d We empower one another through lively exchanges for the conversations that form the core of our work. The most beautiful analog symbioses emerge, ones that are far greater than the sum of their parts. I never would have dared to dream of such a thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The interview with Werner K\u00fcppers took place in June 2025 in Witten, Germany, as part of an assignment for Das Goetheanum<\/em>. In August 2025 there was another young <\/em>bus driver, the first time in 25 years: Elias Franz, 25 years old. He had been riding along on the bus from time to time for the past three years. Werner K\u00fcppers continues to be part of the routes. He has moved his seat from the driver\u2019s seat to the upper level of the double-decker bus. On the upper level, he sits right at the front, gazing through the windshield at the landscape and reflecting on the experiences he had at his last stop, and writes in his blog.
More<\/strong> Homepage of the Bus for Direct Democracy<\/a> | Werner K\u00fcppers blog<\/a> | Video of the handover to Elias Franz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation <\/strong>Joshua Kelberman
Title image <\/strong>The \u201cOmnibus for Direct Democracy\u201d in front of the German Reichstag building. Photo: Michael von der Lohe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past quarter-century, Werner K\u00fcppers has been the driver of the Omnibus f\u00fcr Direkte Demokratie in Deutschland [Omnibus for Direct Democracy in Germany]. Enno Schmidt spoke with him about his experiences with people on the street, about responsibility, power, and social practices that grow out of real democratic processes. For 25 years, Werner K\u00fcppers has been driving a Berlin double-decker bus across Germany. A shiny golden brass strip runs around the white bus above an inscription in large green […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22554,"featured_media":71960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8797,8838,8845],"tags":[11791,8798,11792],"class_list":["post-72215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversation-en","category-time-issues","category-social","tag-ausgabe-17-2026-en","tag-deepening","tag-english-issue-19-2026"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72215"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72318,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72215\/revisions\/72318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}