“Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent and debate.”

They way it ought to work. Unfortunately all we get is rhetoric, opponent bashing, and biased pundits and sound bites. I would love to see more meaningful, respectful, analytical, and thoughtful debate backed up by facts. I won't hold my breath though. The main strategy seems to silence, marginalize, and vilify dissent.

In context, its a good sound bite

Too bad today's politicians (and most of the public) do not seem to understand this...

Read Al Gore's new book, The Assault on Reason as a modern treatise on why the collective's ability to think rationally and contribute intelligently to a participatory democracy is at terminal risk.

Watch Al Gore's schlockumentary "Inconvenient Truth" to see an assault on reason.

... but Freedom is eventually defended by force. If we don't have the power to live free, our freedom will eventually be taken from us -- no matter whether we 'win' any debates or not -- we have to fight to keep our freedom as well as to get it back.