tradition!

[hitchhiker]

Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.

-- G K Chesterton, "Orthodoxy"

what really fascinates me is that in the larger context, chesterton was making an argument *for* tradition (or, rather, for democracy, on the grounds that everyone agreed tradition was good and tradition was a form of democracy, so therefore democracy was clearly good). i most often see this quote paraphrased today by people arguing *against* tradition.

more extended excerpt from the book here

Comments

[amaebi]

I haven't been seeing anyone paraphrasing this, myself.

It strikes me as pretty funny to give a vote to entities with (presumably) no living interests to support, without at lest mentioning the unborn whose interests are obviously implicated in today's decisions.

Chesterton's an interesting guy-- such an appealing twister. I bet he would have wrestled Milton Friedman down with one arm, smiling. (Friedman mentioned because he was another twister many found attractive.)

[lcohen]

the song doesn't really scan with these new lyrics.

[minoanmiss]

contemplates

[zahraa]

I have mostly seen it paraphrased that way as well. I'm not sure how to make a clear separation, though, between culture, which we generally think of as a good thing, and tradition, which we generally don't. I'm not so sure you can separate them.