Canadians who want to understand why our most important freedoms are being eroded with frightening speed ought to read The Trouble With Democracy, by Dr. William Gairdner. It may be his best book yet.

Written in 2001, The Trouble With Democracy puts a scholarly philosophical foundation under his previous books: The Trouble With Canada, The War Against the Family, On Higher Ground-and his latest book Oh, Oh Canada!

I remember hearing Bill Gairdner speak several years ago, after The War Against the Family came out; he pointed out why radical democracy-what he now calls "hyperdemocracy"-is incompatible with Christianity.

Now, it's important to keep the distinction between "democracy" and "hyperdemocracy" carefully in view. Democracy of the kind we've had in Canada-the democracy we inherited from Magna Carta-is solidly rooted in Christian principles; but hyperdemocracy occurs when the principle of mutual respect-the "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" found in both testaments of the Bible-gives way to mob rule. It happened in Athens; it happened in Rome; and it's happening here.

In The Trouble With Democracy, Dr. Gairdner explores the philosophical works of (among others) Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Stuart Mill-two writers at opposite ends of the democratic scale, these philosophers both fall victim to the ineluctable short-sightedness that results when human reasoning is held up as ultimate wisdom.

Rousseau's philosophy is one of the profoundly corrupting influences in our "public schools"-better described as "government indoctrination centres". He also provided the philosophical behind the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. Mill's absolutist "freedom" devours itself-an error that thrives in the Libertarian philosophy today. True freedom is not the liberty to do what we want, but the liberty to become what we ought to be.

I'm really looking forward to hearing Dr. Gairdner-in my mind, Canada's premier philosopher-when he'll be the keynote speaker at the CHP's leadership convention in London, Ontario November 5-8.