Chesterton deserves better...

...than to be quoted out of context so that E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post can try to cleverly say nothing of consequence about that human activity that rarely has anything to do with cleverness or consequences: politics.

One of the few things the Republican and Democratic presidential contests have in common is the relentlessness with which candidates on both sides are wrapping themselves in orthodoxy. Heretics need not apply.

It’s true that primary contests are largely decided by the party faithful. And I’ll concede that orthodoxy may be underrated since we tend to trust people whose views are grounded in a set of principles.

“I did try to found a heresy of my own,” said G.K. Chesterton, who wrote the book on orthodoxy, “and when I put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy.”

Of course, Chesterton wrote a book titled Orthodoxy—and a wonderful book it is (and here is the larger context for the quote above). But orthodoxy actually predates Chesterton by a few centuries or so. It even predates American politics. But, hey, how about that presidential ra....zzzzzzzzzzz.

Comments

[Nick Milne]

Infamy! Strike his head from his shoulders! Let his blood be in our streets! Let lions lie down in his high places! Let all manner of unpleasantness abound for him and his house!

[M. Jordan Lichens]

Brilliant, just brilliant. Can someone know so little that they believe Orthodoxy didn't start until a portly 20th Century literary giants spoke and then quote him out of context. I must say, I'm amazed!