This question immediately set me to thinking about politics and politicians. Have you ever noticed how obsessively serious they are about themselves? Maybe it's because they have so much to hide and are working so hard to convince prospective voters they are the sincerest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch. But one of my favorite thinkers, G.K. Chesterton had both political parties pegged and obviously didn't take either of them as seriously as they take themselves. Here's his comment on politicians:
The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.So whether you are progressive or a conservative, consider Chesterton's thought and realize you are likely to be wrong in either case. I think the ability to laugh at yourself is one of the marks of humility.
Using Chesteron's own advise, I won't take him seriously. I don't think the understanding of those terms during his decades is relevant to how we understand these terms today. Consider that George Soros was at most an infant during Chesterton's day if he was even born yet. To imply that both progressives and conservatives are equally erroneous is painting things with an overly broad brush.
ReplyDeleteOh I don't know, Janet. Hudge and Gudge haven't changed much since Chesterton's day and from what I've seen of politicians, the two sides of the aisle haven't changed much either. Honest politicians have always been in short supply and statesmen in even shorter supply.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, isn't Chesterton's statement similar to Joe Sobran's that the Democrats (progressives) are the evil party and the Republicans (conservatives) are the stupid party?
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