Gene Healy on Why the Presidency is the Problem

The superiority of our
national charter, with its separation of powers and independently
elected national executive, is an article of faith among
conservatives. So it’s about time, writes Gene Healy, for some
constitutional impiety on the right. F.H. Buckley answers the call
in his bracing and important new book, The Once and Future
King. Buckley, a professor of law at George Mason University
and a senior editor at The American Spectator, is
unmistakably conservative. But that doesn’t stop him from pointing
out that America isn’t so damned exceptional—or from arguing that
the revered Constitution has made key contributions to our national
decline. In particular, Buckley finds that “presidentialism is
significantly and strongly correlated with less political
freedom.”

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