G K Chesterton's Foretelling of Our Situation

I was reminded of these two characters by Protein Wisdom's remark:

...we don’t have a representative two party system any longer, but rather only the mirage of one....

Enter Hudge and Gudge.

...Chesterton introduced these two in his 1910 book, What’s Wrong with the World. Both Hudge and Gudge were gentlemen of the governing class. Gudge was described as a plutocrat, a Tory, an individualist, and perhaps a slumlord. Hudge was described as a socialist, an idealist, a progressive, and perhaps a vegetarian....

Think "Rovians" and "Any Democrat Pol."

And as the precis reminds us, there is us!

...The key to Chesterton’s politics is that he refused to take part in the debate between Hudge and Gudge, but rather judged them both by the test of Jones. What, he asked had Gudge, the industrial-capitalist, done to strengthen the family of Jones? What had Hudge, the socialist-idealist, done to strengthen the family of Jones?...

Good questions, and in the current instance we know the answers.

Turns out that GKC had the very same answers.  That's why he wrote this:

...Keep the politicians near enough to kick them. The villagers who met under the village tree could also hang their politicians to the tree. It’s terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged today."

Prophet he was!!