It is the traditional things, the permanent things, that have always kept men free. Family and faith and Friends. Chesterton says, tradition is a truth of the Common People. It is always distrusted by snobs.

It is the traditional things, the permanent things, that have always kept men free. Family and faith and Friends. Chesterton says, tradition is a truth of the Common People. It is always distrusted by snobs.

It is the snobs who sneer at our values and at our common sense. For instance, in the past few years we have seen an open conspiracy among the Elites in the entertainment industry to portray homosexuality as something normal and natural. This is in absolute defiance of the common sense of common people.

Decadents like living in a dream which they can alter at any moment to suit themselves, and which they can create causes without creating consequences, and which they can prevent the future or unmake the past. But I think a decent working man of any class, whether he is working at cube roots or cabbage roots, ought to be glad that, as he sows, so shall he surely reap. -- Chesterton

The homosexual fad (and yes, it is a fad) is another attack on the family, and it has to do with the same argument about feminism. There's a difference between men and women and there is a reason for that difference. They have distinct roles, even while our society tries to muddle what those distinct roles are. The problem today, says Chesterton, is that each sex is trying to be both sexes at once; "and the result is a confusion more untruthful than any conventions".

Not only are the differences between men and women obvious and elemental; they are, well, necessary. If Chesterton exaggerates the differences between men and women, it is because only the truth can be exaggerated. Nothing else, it says, can't stand the strain. So Chesterton emphasizes those amazing differences between men and women as being quite necessary for a true romantic love.

The differences between a man and a woman are at best so obstinate and exasperated that they practically cannot be got over unless there is an atmosphere of exaggerated tenderness and mutual interest. To put the matter in one metaphor, the sexes are two stubborn pieces of iron; if they are to be welded together, it must be while they are red hot. Every woman has to find out that her husband is a selfish Beast, because every man is a selfish Beast by the standard of a woman. But let her find out the best while they are both still in the story of "Beauty and the Beast." Every Man has to find out that his wife is cross - that is to say, sensitive to the point of madness; for every woman is mad by the masculine standard. But let him find out that she is mad while her madness is more worth considering than anyone else's sanity. -- Chesterton

Worldly wisdom is narrow and limited, and it passes away. The fads and fashions have also found their way into the place that should be least susceptible to such a fleeting phenomena: the Church. There are always attempts to "update" the faith, as if eternal truth can somehow go out of date. These schemes always have secular sources. There is always an attempt to get the church to follow the world, not the other way around.

Common Sense 101, Lessons from GK Chesterton, Dale Alquist