All Things Considered

Most of us will be canvassed soon, I suppose; some of us may even canvass. Upon which side, of course, nothing will induce me to state, beyond saying that by a remarkable coincidence it will in every case be the only side in which a high-minded, public-spirited, and patriotic citizen can take even a momentary interest. But the general question of canvassing itself, being a non-party question, is one which we may be permitted to approach. The rules for canvassers are fairly familiar to any one who has ever canvassed. They are printed on the little card which you carry about with you and lose. There is a statement, I think, that you must not offer a voter food or drink.

English writer Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936) was a poet, philosopher, journalist, lay theologian, and literary critic often referred to as the "prince of paradox". Time magazine said of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out." Chesterton is well known for his priest-detective Father Brown. George Bernard Shaw, Chesterton's "friendly enemy" according to Time, called him: "a man of colossal genius".