The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is pleased to host the Canadian launch of F.H. Buckley’s newest book “The Once and Future King”, featuring a reading and discussion by the author of his groundbreaking work.
The Once and Future King Book
Peace, Order and Good Government can often seem a bit pallid and, well, self-deprecatingly Canadian beside America’s stirring call for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, but according to F.H. Buckley, Canadians have no reason to feel “constitution envy” compared to the US. On the contrary, measured on the things that really matter, like protecting liberty and controlling the power of the executive, he argues that Canada has it largely right and America is increasingly failing to live up to the ideals of its founders.
Buckley, a Canadian law professor teaching in the US has written a revealing new book, The Once and Future King, that debunks many of America’s founding myths. The U.S. isn’t the freest country around, according to think tanks that study these things. And neither the separation of powers nor Congressional government are particularly conducive to freedom: parliamentary regimes such as Canada’s are generally freer than presidential ones.
What Americans increasingly have is what Buckley calls Crown government, the rule of an all-powerful president. The country began in a revolt against one King, and today we see the dawn of a new kind of monarchy. What we have is what one of the Founders, George Mason, called an “elective monarchy,” which he thought was worse than the real thing.
Buckley makes the case that not only is Canada’s monarchical parliamentary democracy producing better outcomes for Canadians in terms of control of the executive and ability to pursue needed policies, but it has also been more successful in preserving our liberty.
Buckley has authored an op-ed on the subject for the National Post and also published an excerpt.
The book launch
By attending this event, not only will the first 100 people receive a free copy of “The Once and Future King” (a $31 value), but all of you will be donating to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to support its mission in celebrating this nation’s greatest achievements, and helping make Canada the best governed country in the world.
To register, click here.
