This peculiar word "freedom" -- with hundreds of definitions -- has been debased in the coinage of communications. It might be helpful to go back to the original derivation of the word -- a dozen language roots with a common ancestry: always it springs from words that mean "peace" and "love." Strangely enough, the word "liberty" traced back to its roots meant "growing up" or "maturing" or "taking responsibility." And therein lies the whole story -- we can have peace and brotherly love by accepting our responsibility to preserve freedom here where it has known its longest run in six thousand years of recorded history.

Ronald Reagan on the second to last page of Where's the Rest of Me?

If damage is done to the nation, it is almost impossible to rectify; the bad drives out the good.

Same author, same place.