I received an email this week from a learned friend.  In a nutshell, it was about speaking out…good thing?…bad thing?…you know, the frivolous, Quixotic enterprise I pursue each week with varying levels of gusto.  Obviously, I encourage opinion, in particular, the non-baseless variety, the chiding schoolyard comeback or unapologetically obtuse bullshit, not so much.  I think I like honest debate as long as its arc is not predetermined by a heels-dug-in resistance to the possibility of being enlightened by consequentially valid information.  However, that may be a relic as dusty and illusive as a fully preserved dinosaur skeleton.  We still use, (overuse), the term, but the centuries-old tradition of squaring off, intellect v. intellect, has shifted from mounting the headier, heavier balance of fact-based affirmation required to rue the day to snarky, name-calling, gotcha performance art meant to confuse, not convince.  Presidential debates have become the equivalent of the non-PC swimsuit portion of a beauty pageant…only the gaffs, the attire and the profusion of perspiration make the highlight reels.  Congressional debate, unquestionably the most fundamental wrench in the democracy toolbox, began to fully unravel when one side decided that their soul mission was to block, in any way possible, every attempt by the newly elected, uppity black man to govern.  Now, honed to a fully obstructive science, that side, the Republican side, has become opinionless.  They stand for nothing, they believe in nothing and they are unflappable.  This, of course, leaves Democrats to argue amongst themselves.  Speak out?  Debate?  The choir doesn’t need to be swayed.  Nobody else is listening.