democracy of the dead

"democracy of the dead" - that title has a good halloween ring to it. I'm reading a fantastic book by Brian McLaren entitled "A Generous Orthodoxy". I recommend it highly, and I'd love to be a part of a group study of the book. In the chapter "Why I Am catholic", McLaren quotes one of the many brilliant passages from G. K. Chesterton's classic book "Orthodoxy". The wisdom of Chesterton is something we are sorely in need of today. Savour the wisdom in this passage. Read it several times if need be. It is rich.

But there is one thing that I have never from my youth up been able to understand. I have never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time. It is trusting to a consensus of common human voices rather than to some isolated or arbitrary record...
It is quite easy to see why a legend is treated, and ought to be treated, more respectfully than a book of history. The legend is generally made by the majority of people in the village. The book is generally written by the one man in the village who is mad...
If we attach great importance to the opinion of ordinary men in great unanimity when we are dealing with daily matters, there is no reason why we should disregard it when we are dealing with history or fable. Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father. I, at any rate, cannot separate the two ideas of democracy and tradition; it seems evident to me that they are the same idea. We will have the dead at our councils.

G. K. Chesterton in "Orthodoxy", pg 52-53