Freedom At Risk

James Buckley may be the only American alive who has held high office in each branch of the federal government – as a senator (representing New York), an under secretary of state, and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  His comprehensive understanding of how Washington works equips him to address authoritatively the intrusive growth of the federal government and illuminate such diverse issues as judicial activism, environmental regulation, the place of religion in public life, energy policies, campaign financing, and women’s rights.  On the international front, he explains the dangers of abandoning foreign commitments and the difficulties posed by political corruption in the United Nations.  Many of these essays and speeches are from the Seventies, but problems identified then have grown exponentially in the decades since, and the author’s insights are even more relevant today than they were when he first served in the Senate.

This book tells us why government is incapable of managing an economy, and why the transformation of the federal government into a centrally administered welfare state is undermining the most critical safeguard the Founders had written into the Constitution, namely the principle of federalism.

Here, in a sober book of perceptive analysis, is an outline of the steps that must be taken to save constitutional government, if that is still possible.