You know, it didn’t occur to me until I read Peggy Noonan’s column a couple of Saturday’s ago in the Wall Street Journal that the John Birchers are apparently dead.

Fresh out of law school, I remember debating the Chairman of the John Birch Society in Florida back in the years that mattered. He was representing his position, of course, and I was representing both the American Civil Liberties Union in Central Florida as well as the State Libertarian Party in the State of Florida.

I know . . . I know. 

It seems like a contradiction in terms, but it really is not.

As an American civil libertarian, I believed in minimal government interference in one’s personal or social life.  As a political Libertarian, I belived in minimal government interference in one’s economic life.

It made perfect sense to me.  And  I never really found them to be contradictory.  But apparently, this raving lunatic from the John Birch Society did.

We taped the debate on one of the local affiliated channels and it was broadcast by one of the big three. Now days, of course, that would never happen because commercial interests would be far too lucrative.

However, in those days, it was actually possible and I was far too young to understand the personal opportunity it offered me.

I don’t remember a great deal about the debate. I do remember the cameras . . .

and the moderator . . .

and the tension. . .

and some of the rhetorical stuff.

However, what I remember most was the moderator saying that we were required to really “mix it up.”

“Mix it up?”

I didn’t get that initially. . .but I eventually did.  In other words, really get it going.

Really start provoking.

Really push some buttons.

Really let it loose.

After all, we were live. . .and we needed to keep the viewers engaged.

The problem was that I had a tough time trying to figure out how to conduct a rational debate with an irrational person.  It was kind of like seeing in those days what we all see today with the commentator shows on CNBC, CNN, FOX, and MSNBC:  so much noise, deflection and volume, but so little substance!  

Great sound bites, yes.  But little reasoning.  And even fewer “ahas!”

I remember at one point during the break turning to the moderator and saying that rational debate was simply impossible when I was debating such a strident maniac.

I’m sure that comment disappointed him.   He certainly never seemed the same.

I suspect it did not become “best practices” in what was to become the broadcast journalism model of the future.  

And I do know for sure it never got me another invitation to any other broadcasted political debate.

Imagine (and with deference to Brando):  I could have been a contender? 

Really. . .a contender.  A pity indeed!  And the price was so small. . .

or was it really?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 5:48 pm and is filed under Beyond Our Life In Business, Essays, In the News, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.