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Freedom at Risk: Reflections on Politics, Liberty, and the State
 
 
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Freedom at Risk: Reflections on Politics, Liberty, and the State [Hardcover]

James L Buckley (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 14, 2010
James L. Buckley may be the only American alive who has held high office in each branch of the federal government as senator of New York, undersecretary of state under Ronald Reagan, and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. His unique understanding of how Washington works equips him to address the intrusive and exponential growth of the federal government in the past forty years.

In Freedom at Risk, Buckley’s collected essays, musings, and speeches tell the real story of 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 critical safeguards that the Founders wrote into the Constitution.

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

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James L. Buckley was born in New York City in 1923, grew up in rural Connecticut, and received his B.A. degree from Yale. Following service as a naval officer in World War II, he returned to New Haven to secure his law degree. After several years in private practice, he joined a group of small companies engaged in oil exploration abroad. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1970 as the candidate of New York’s Conservative Party. He failed of reelection; but he has since served as an undersecretary of state in the Reagan administration, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany, and, most recently, as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He retired in 2000, and he and his wife now live in Sharon, Connecticut.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 312 pages
  • Publisher: Encounter Books (December 14, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594034788
  • ISBN-13: 978-1594034787
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #630,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Length: 7:13 Mins
Most of these entries hail from the days when Mr. Buckley was in the Senate but much of his critique of Washington DC applies to the present as well. A fine book overall!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
James Buckley, older brother of WFB Jr, has lived a varied and most valuable life. Spending the first 45+ years in the private sector he went on to be a US Senator from New York (the so-called "out of state" seat also held by fellow non-New Yorkers Robert Kennedy, Patrick Moynihan, and Hillary Clinton), Undersecretary of State, and Federal appeals court judge. In "Freedom at Risk" Buckley presents his thoughts on several public policy issues composed at various points in his career with the added perspective of a newly-written essay "On Liberty and the State" which places his observations in context and in the overriding framework of conservative philosophy.
Now in his late eighties and living in his hometown of Sharon, Connecticut, James Buckley remains an active participant in public life. This book shows not only his contributions to American thought but brings out in little ways the admirable qualities of his character.
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Grace of expression March 20, 2011
Format:Hardcover
With artfulness and grace of expression matched only by his brother but laced with examples based on his impressive experience in business, U.S. senate, state department and federal judge, these essays by James Buckley explain basic pragmatic conservative thought with insights of the liberalism and social self-organizational efficiency of Fredrick Hayek and the moral clarity of his own Catholicism. The principle of subsidiarity is the book's principle thesis derived from Cathoilc teaching ("as you have done it for the least of these my brothers you have done it for me") and implicit in the founding documents but also in Hayek's thinking and in a broad array of contemporary concepts in computer information theory, game theory, biologic self-organizing structures, complex adaptive systems and management theory. These concepts are clearly more than just eighteenth century political philosophy. The book consists of a collection of Buckley essays written in the 1970's, 80's and 90's on a wide range of topics but many to do with the unintended and unanticipated effects of government policy in executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Although they are of historical interest they are eerily topical in current policy pertaining to moral, cultural, military, economic, and international issues. Each essay is preceded or followed by Buckley's assessment of current relevance of the essay. The only shortcoming of the book is the longing evoked in the reader for even more elaboration on current issues but Buckley has done enough to present us with this thoughtful collection.
Thank you James Buckley for delivering us from the cacophony of shouting heads who claim to represent conservative thought. Oh my where have we come to? Brother William Buckley once responded to an interview question on the significance on conservative ideas of current talk show hosts compared to his own and he said tersely that he broadcast only one hour per week, but that if he had been forced to broadcast three hours per day, like commentators of today, he would not have had anything of significance to say either.
What a pleasure to return to conservative roots with this quiet delightful read.
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