F.H. Buckley’s new book, The Once and Future King, tears down the notion that Canadians have anything to be jealous about when it comes to the U.S. constitution.
OTTAWA, Sept. 22, 2014 – The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is pleased to host the Canadian launch of F.H. Buckley‘s newest book, The Once and Future King, on Sept. 30 at the RCAF Officers’ Mess at 158 Gloucester St. in Ottawa. The event will feature a reading and discussion by the author of his groundbreaking work.
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 Buckley, Canadians have no reason to feel “constitution envy” compared to the U.S.
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 U.S., debunks many of America’s founding myths in The Once and Future King.
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.
Building on the ideas in the book, Buckley wrote an op-ed for the Ottawa Citizen about why empowering members of Parliament is a terrible idea.
Buckley has authored an op-ed on the subject for the National Post, which has also published an excerpt.
If you’re a member of the media and want to attend please contact MLI Events and Marketing Manager Pamela Louie at pamela.louie@macdonaldlaurier.ca.
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F.H. Buckley has been a Foundation Professor at George Mason University School of Law since 1989. He has also taught at the University of Chicago Law School, McGill Law School, the Sorbonne and Sciences Po in Paris. He is the author of several other books, including The American Illness, Fair Governance and Just Exchange.
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Mark Brownlee, communications manager, at 613-482-8327 x105 or email at mark.brownlee@macdonaldlaurier.ca. On Twitter @MLInstitute
