Q.
In the Tuesday, August 6, 1997 issue of the #San Francisco Chronicle#
I read the following letter to the editor in regard to a recent demonstration
calling itself Critical Mass which became a disturbance of the peace
by a few thousand bicyclists in downtown San Francisco. It seems they
wanted bike lanes and perhaps desired the immediate demise of the
automobile. Many participants became violent toward cars and peace
officers arrest were made. The whole affair has come to be called
Critical Mess.
Critical Mass participants would do well to heed
the words of G. K. Chesterton: "When you break the big laws, you
do not get freedom, you do not even get anarchy. You get the small
laws."
-- Cynthia Brooks, San Francisco
What is the source of this quote? Just what does Chesterton mean?
I admit to being a bit baffled. This letter is an excellent example
of how to quote Chesterton on issues of the day as we members of ACS
are called to do. Cheers!
- James
A.
The passage (one word, "liberty," was misquoted) reads:
"When you break the big laws, you do not get liberty;
you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws."
It may be found quoted on page 119 of A.L. Maycock's 1963 collection
of excerpts from Chesterton's uncollected writings, The Man
Who Was Orthodox. Maycock gives his source as Chesterton's
Daily News article for July 29, 1905. He quotes only
those two brief sentences.
We wish we had the original article to give you the context, but
as is true of so much of Chesterton's work, it remains to be collected
and republished. The ACS is dedicated to furthering this work. The
nearest copy we know of is in the Library of Congress.
What Chesterton might be driving at is possibly suggested by the
fact that in some jurisdictions one is more likely to be prosecuted
for littering than for pornography. Although some of us tend to
think it means that when we ignore the "big laws" (which the same
some of us would equate with The Ten Commandments), when we ignore
them both by disobeying them and by not enforcing them, we are left
with having to make many small laws for many different situations,
will also not be obeyed or enforced, and which will lead to even
more laws.
We thank you for your solidarity with us in joining the ACS.
- The "Quotemeister"
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