Messrs. Buckley and Lewis surprise each other by the extent of their agreement-- which only adds to the pleasure of this profound exploration of the First Amendment's protection of public speech. AL: "The real essence of the First Amendment... is the right to disagree with the government.... And I'm confident that conservatives and liberals alike would think that was an essence of democracy." ... WFB: "Hugo Black thought there ought to be no libel law at all. If the Founding Fathers said, 'There shall be no law... abridging the freedom of speech,' then there should be no law.... Why should this right transcend other rights?" AL: "You want me to defend the proposition that it should. But I'm not an absolutist on the First Amendment. I didn't agree with Justice Black, and moreover he didn't agree with himself.... When it came to kinds of speech that he didn't like ... he found ways to get around his own absolutism."