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You're right. A conservative is a contrarian. They fight change. Chesterton's fence is a rational argument in favor of being conservative.
by anthonygd 5y ago
You're right. A conservative is a contrarian. They fight change.
Chesterton's fence is a rational argument in favor of being conservative.
- dccoolgai 5y agoI don't completely agree. A contrarian, by definition, is responsive to the political context they are in. In Chesterton's time, there was a wave of anarchism finding purchase in academic and philosophical circles: hence he appeared as a conservative. A "conservative" from Chesterton's time doesn't necessarily map cleanly onto the modern notion of the same name... Supposing the allegorical "fence" to be something like clean air or water regulation, one could argue that it's modern "conservatives" more often than not arguing to disturb things without considering second-order effects.
- anthonygd 5y agoI realize it's probably too late to respond, but I don't completely disagree. I really don't like referring to Republican's as conservative or Democrats as liberal precisely because neither party really sticks to those concepts. "Conservatives" as a political unit are not conservative and "Liberals" aren't liberal. The world is a dumb place.