Many ordinary German citizens are no longer willing to simply accept decisions made by the state. The new railway station project, Stuttgart 21, is a perfect example of this. Heiner Geißler, the mediator in the dispute, has called for an end to authoritarian decision making.As longtime General Secretary of the Christian Democrats, Geißler knows a thing or two about party discipline and how to deal with opponents. Heiner Geißler's political career in the CDU faltered, due to differences of opinion with the party's leader at the time, Helmut Kohl. As a man who had studied to become a Jesuit priest, Geißler understands that citizens wish to exercise their democratic rights - even if they don't always get what they want in the end.