This provocative book brings together twenty-plus contributors from the fields of law, economics, and international relations to look at whether the U.S. legal system is contributing to the country's long postwar decline. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the interactions between economics and the law - in such areas as corruption, business regulation, and federalism - and explains how our system works differently from the one in most countries, with contradictory and hard to understand business regulations, tort laws that vary from state to state, and surprising judicial interpretations of clearly written contracts. This imposes far heavier litigation costs on American companies and hampers economic growth.

After the Democratic Party divided Americans along gender and racial lines, F.H. Buckley argues that the Republican Party can become the natural governing party again by uniting Americans around a return to their roots-championing the common good, liberty, and equality. "Frank Buckley shakes conservatives by their lapels in this sharp-edged vision for a Republican Party. Progressivism Conservatism does what's needed-disrupt received wisdom with pragmatic, innovative ideas." -Philip K. Howard, author of The Death of Common Sense "F. H. Buckley shows us how a seeming contradiction can lead to the healing of a fractured country." -Roger L. Simon, award-winning novelist and editor, Epoch Times The Republican Party must return to its roots as a progressive conservative party that defends the American Dream, the idea that whoever you are, you can get ahead and know that your children will have it better than you did. It must show how the Democrats have become the party of inequality and immobility and that they created what structural racism exists through their unjust education, immigration, and job-killing policies. Republicans must seek to drain the swamp by limiting the clout of lobbyists and interest groups. They must also be nationalists, and as American nationalism is defined by the liberal nationalism of our founders, the party must reject the illiberalism of extremists on the Left and Right. As progressives, Republicans must also recognize nationalism's leftward gravitational force and the way in which it demands that the party serve the common good through policies that protect the less fortunate among our countrymen. At a time when the Left asks us to scorn our country, Republicans must also be the conservative party that defends our families, the nobility of American ideals, and the founders' republican virtues. By championing these policies, the Republicans will retain the new voters Trump brought to the GOP as well as those who left the party because of him. And as progressive conservatives, the GOP will become America's natural governing party.

Americans have never been more divided, and we're ripe for a breakup. The bitter partisan animosities, the legislative gridlock, the growing acceptance of violence in the name of political virtue-it all invites us to think that we'd be happier were we two different countries. In all the ways that matter, save for the naked force of law, we are already two nations. There's another reason why secession beckons, says F.H. Buckley: we're too big. In population and area, the United States is one of the biggest countries in the world, and American Secession provides data showing that smaller countries are happier and less corrupt. They're less inclined to throw their weight around militarily, and they're freer too. There are advantages to bigness, certainly, but the costs exceed the benefits. On many counts, bigness is badness. Across the world, large countries are staring down secession movements. Many have already split apart. Do we imagine that we, almost alone in the world, are immune? We had a civil war to prevent a secession, and we're tempted to see that terrible precedent as proof against another effort. This book explodes that comforting belief and shows just how easy it would be for a state to exit the Union if that's what its voters wanted. But if that isn't what we really want, Buckley proposes another option, a kind of Secession Lite, that could heal our divisions while allowing us to keep our identity as Americans.

"Bravo! I'll say nothing funny about it, for it is a
superior piece of work."
--P. J. O'Rourke
"F. H. Buckley's "The Morality of Laughter" is at once
a humorous look at serious matters and a serious
book about humor."
--"Crisis Magazine"
"Buckley has written a . ne and funny book that will
be read with pleasure and instruction."
--"First Things"
." . . written elegantly and often wittily. . . ."
--"National Post"
." . . a fascinating philosophical exposition of
laughter. . . ."
--"National Review"
." . . at once a wise and highly amusing book."
--"Wall Street Journal Online"
." . . a useful reminder that a cheery society is a
healthy one."
--"Weekly Standard"

"Bravo! I'll say nothing funny about it, for it is a
superior piece of work."
--P. J. O'Rourke
"F. H. Buckley's "The Morality of Laughter" is at once
a humorous look at serious matters and a serious
book about humor."
--"Crisis Magazine"
"Buckley has written a . ne and funny book that will
be read with pleasure and instruction."
--"First Things"
." . . written elegantly and often wittily. . . ."
--"National Post"
." . . a fascinating philosophical exposition of
laughter. . . ."
--"National Review"
." . . at once a wise and highly amusing book."
--"Wall Street Journal Online"
." . . a useful reminder that a cheery society is a
healthy one."
--"Weekly Standard"