Debate College, LLP

1858 Lincoln v. Douglas

 

 

 

 



 

Honest Abe meets the Little Giant.

1960 Kennedy-Nixon Debate

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethos trumps logos.

1969 NDT Finals

 

 

 



 




 



 

The Emperor has no clothes.

2008: The Trifecta.

 

 

 

 



Obama makes his point.

Present Day Debate

 

 



 



 

 

The dream never dies.

From the desk of the General Operations Director...

What is America’s favorite sport?
The traditional answer was - and, for millions of people, still is - "baseball." Indeed, for more than 80 years, baseball was commonly identified as America’s "national pastime."
     Then, following World War II, with the advent of television, the revolutionary expansion of the NFL, and the proliferation of college bowl games and playoff games (Divisions II and III), football became known as "America’s Game."
     So what sport is really "Number One?"
     This is a Debate website; we would be horribly remiss if we did not "cite a card" at this point. So...
     In December of 2005, ESPN announced the results of a nationwide poll of 30,000 adult Americans asking the question specified above. According to that poll (and among those willing to name a single choice), America’s favorite sports are:
     1. NFL Football - 23.30%
     2. Major League Baseball - 12.97%
     3. Professional Basketball (the NBA) - 8.03%
     4. College (NCAA) Football - 7.61%
     5. NASCAR (auto racing) - 4.40%
     6. College (NCAA) Basketball - 4.24%
     7. Professional Hockey - 2.89%
     When we saw these results, we were shocked. Where is competitive interscholastic Debate? Why is it that Debate - an activity so basic to the American way of life - receives so little public attention?
     After all, anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of history knows that the United States of America was the first nation to be created (culminating on July 4, 1776) by Debaters. Those first Great American Debaters "made their Case" to the world in a document known as The Declaration of Independence.
     Eleven years later (1787), the Great American Debaters met again in Philadelphia. Having proved the merits of America’s "Case" by force of arms in the Revolutionary War, it was time for them to write - and ultimately submit to an entire population as the "judges" - a workable "Plan." That "Plan," of course, is the Constitution of the United States. And, despite what might be called some "Disadvantages" and "Solvency" problems, that "Plan" - as amended - continues to serve us well to this day. 
     Thus it is, in our view at least, indisputable that America was born of Debate, lives by Debate, and - God willing - will be a nation of Debaters for as long as it exists. 
     Consider:
     (1) All of our laws, rules, and regulations - at the Federal level, the State level, and the various and sundry local and municipal levels - are the products of "the legislative process" - in other words, the results of Debates over propositions of policy.
     (2) In many States - including DEBATE COLLEGE’S home State of California - the Initiative and Referendum processes allow each and every eligible voter to "be the ultimate policymaker," and to cast ballots that "really count" in deciding Debates on propositions of policy.
     (3) The American court system - at both the Federal and State levels, and in the fields of both criminal and civil litigation - is wholly dedicated to debating propositions of fact.
     (4) Last but not least - wherever and whenever two of more Americans come into contact - we "debate" propositions of policy and/or fact and/or value - in our churches, our clubs and voluntary associations, on "talk radio," in cyberspace, around the kitchen table, and in both our boardrooms and our bedrooms.
     Far too often, however - and tragically, in our opinion - in Americans’ attempt to debate, literally tens of millions of us instead fall victim to the temptation to fight - using words and arguments as weapons and not as tools. In other words, instead of employing credible evidence and valid reasoning to test the merits of our ideas, we degrade each other, divide ourselves into intensely partisan factions, and decide very little.
     DEBATE COLLEGE was created to address this unfortunate situation. DEBATE COLLEGE exists to assist every literate person - regardless of ancestry, race, sex, age, creed, economic status and/or educational achievement - in learning the proper way to debate an issue. 
     The three "founders" of DEBATE COLLEGE, who among them have more than 100 years of experience in competitive argumentation and debate, are confident that the more people who learn Debate as an academic discipline, the better country America will be.
     We sincerely welcome you to our cybernetic "home," and we hope that your interaction with us will be both pleasurable and productive.

- MICHAEL H. MILLER, J.D.