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Notes -
Mesoamerican human sacrifice ended because the region was conquered by the Spanish who outlawed the mesoamerican religion and imposed their own- very Chesterton’s fence for the Spanish.
I don't see how that is so different from the person who wants to remove the fence in Chesterton's parable. He is also implied to be an outsider (as his conversation partner is in a position to let or not let him remove the fence). On that matter, discrimination of gays can be narrated as having ended because the social structures of the Red Tribe were conquered by the Blue Tribe, who (--"--).
A properly Chestertonian course of action, and indeed one that would be in line with attempted explanations for the practice that emerged much later, would have the Spanish think something like "huh, all the peoples around here are doing human sacrifice. Maybe there is some deep reason why it is adaptive for them in these lands. We should leave it alone until we figure out why".
If you don't accept this, it seems to me, the Fence rule only really imposes any restrictions on lone maverick reformers, who are rarely in a position to make sweeping rule changes anyway. Any group that can tear down fences on the level of national moral law in the US has to have been around and building its power base for a long time, and its proposed changes more often than not are consequences of its own deep history of moral preferences.
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