All legally enforceable rights cost money. A practical, commonsense notion? Yes, but one ignored by almost everyone, from libertarian ideologues to Supreme Court justices to human rights advocates. The simple insight that rights are expensive reminds us that freedom is not violated by a government that taxes and spends, but requires it - and requires a citizenry vigilant about how money is allocated. Laying bare the folly of some of our most cherished myths about rights, this groundbreaking tract will permanently change the terms of our most critical and contentious political debates.

From the Foreword: For the past two decades Canadian politicans of all stripes have told us that it's time to stop "mortgaging our future." They've talked about the unfairness of saddling future generations with a massive public debt, and they've talked about the need to correct the deep flaws inherent in our welfare state entitlements.... While many of Levant's peers have a general sense of the fiscal disaster which they are set to inherit, few have a deep understanding of the fiscal and political causes and consequences of it. "Youthquake" probes those questions with humour and passion, making it a compelling introduction to issues that are too often the preserve of policy specialists. Simply put, those who want to know the bottom line won't have to pour through actuarial tables or academic jargon to learn that a Canadian born in the 1970s will end up paying $200,000 more in taxes than he receives in services, or that the CPP premiums are set to triple over the next 20 years.