Public corruption is the silent killer of our economy. We've spawned the thickest network of patronage and influence ever seen in any country, a crony capitalism in which business partners with government and transfers wealth from the poor to the rich. This is a betrayal of the Framers' vision for America, and of the Constitution they saw as an anti-corruption covenant. Most Americans get it, and this explains the otherwise improbable rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. When a country is corrupt, legislative efforts to make things better can actually make them worse. That's what has happened with our campaign finance laws, says the conservative, and not entirely without reason. We've criminalized political speech and sent the message that it's unsafe to get involved in politics without a lawyer at one's side. Donor disclosure requirements have also unleashed Internet mobs that attack political opponents. We'd be better off without any of them, Buckley argues in this provocative book. They're a net with the curious feature that the big fish swim through safely while only the little fish are caught, and those with the wrong political beliefs. All such rules are a disaster, and should be replaced by a different set of laws that focus on crony capitalism and the nexus of legislators and lobbyists that prey on our economy.

Carol Blum's book is an extraordinarily important and beautifully written work for which I have the deepest admiration. No one seriously interested in the French Revolution or in eighteenth-century political language and theory can afford not to read it.

An original collection of poetry by Paul Lake.

This book provides a fresh and comprehensive account of this outstanding work, which remains among the most frequently read works of Greek philosophy, indeed of Classical antiquity in general.

When In Search of the Republic was originally published in 1987, scholarly interpretations of the concept of virtue in the American founding were considered peripheral to mainstream political theory. Since then, the authors' arguments that public virtue, civic responsibility, and private morality were at the heart of the Founding Fathers' political thought is now accepted by a growing number of contemporary political theorists. This revised edition includes a new preface that places In Search of the Republic within the context of contemporary debates over the role of virtue and religion in early American political discourse. This is a superb introduction for students and scholars interested in learning about the moral, political, and constitutional theories of the Founding Fathers.

"Jankowski recounts Stavisky's notorious schemes and untimely demise, the deadly riot that rocked Paris in its wake, the fall of successive governments including that of Edouard Daladier, and the spectacular trial of many of the swindler's accomplices. "Much against his will, Sacha Stavisky," the author observes, "ignited an explosion that briefly engulfed the entire system of government.""--BOOK JACKET.

Revolutionary France, 1793. When Calvin Tarkington, a young Boston merchant-trader, arrives in Paris on July 4th, he finds a city in turmoil, riven by quarrels between revolutionary factions and threatened by advancing Coalition armies. Calvin's brother Alexander, the family firm's representative in France, has disappeared, suspected by a powerful Jacobin official of spying for the British. As Calvin seeks to clear his brother's name, his quest for the truth takes him from elegant townhouses to squalid gambling dens to the secret chambers of the Masonic Lodge of the Seven Sisters. Drawn into a shadowy world of intrigue and betrayal, Calvin becomes the hunted as France lurches toward the Reign of Terror. Rich in historical detail and suspense, The Republic of Virtue tells a compelling story of love, courage, and loyalty set in a dangerous place at a dangerous time-the darkest days of the French Revolution.