Discussion is a good thing. In a democracy, in fact, I would argue it is essential. Without discussion, laws don't get changed and injustices are never remedied. Government agents that abuse their power are essentially given unlimited authority if there is nobody present to debate the validity of their actions.

But discussion doesn't take place if you exclude valid points from the debate. Just as American voters never get a true look at their choices because of the fact that many candidates are excluded from participating in the debate, many talk shows, etc, do not present a valid viewpoint because they generally exclude participants from the debate that they cannot answer or respond to properly.

The lack of debate has allowed the Republican Party to be hijacked by agents Barry Goldwater would never recognize. Agents that insist that the Constitution be rendered invalid by a president exercising "war powers" despite the fact that war was NEVER DECLARED BY CONGRESS, the only branch of government entitled by the Constitution to declare war, and that the principle of suspending the Constitution in time of war is not one that meets with agreement by all legal scholars. These agents would call the Constitution "just a piece of paper", ignoring the fact that EVERY government official has sworn an oath to defend that very piece of paper. And, when challenged, they do everything they can to silence the opposition rather than issue an intelligent response.

I am beginning to fear that the freedoms we have enjoyed under the Constitution may be coming to an end because too many Americans do not appreciate the freedoms it recognizes, and believe that its defense is not essential. Between "liberals", who would feel that removing guns from the hands of citizens in defiance of the second amendment is "worth it" for the lives arguably saved by the removal, and "conservatives", who feel that unchecked wiretapping of American citizens is  "worth it" for the lives arguably saved by catching criminals in the act of thoughtcrime (while BOTH do disservice to their respective labels), to ANYONE who feels that trampling on the Constitution to seize the children of innocent parents wrongfully accused by spiteful neighbours under the shield of anonymity and in defiance of MANY Constitutional rights, our Constitution is fast losing any sense of meaning. While I still, thankfully, have the right to speak out about such injustice, I have to wonder how long that right will remain in light of our willingness to sacrifice all of our other Constitutional rights for what the government insists to be the "greater good".