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."