Liberals are sometimes defined as people who can't take their own side in an argument.
Although everyone fights, few people know how to have a good argument, an argument that clears the air and makes it less likely a future argument will take place on the same subject.
If you can’t state your position in eight words, you don’t have a position.
Invariably, it is this for which I write: the joy ... of an argument firmly made, like a nail straightly driven, its head flush to the plank.
If you don't have a good case, and you don't have a good message, then shining a light on it is not going to get you very far.
The best way of losing a cause is to abuse your opponent and to trade upon his weakness.
If the reason I give is a good one, you will act upon it. If it is a bad one I cannot make it better by piling epithet upon epithet. There is no logic in abuse; there is no argument in an epithet.
The strangest thing about the low quality of Internet argument is that effective argument isn't really so difficult. Sure, not everyone can be Clarence Darrow, but anyone who wants to be at least competent at argument can do it.
