Mark Small

Debate has been my life, since before the first high school tournament. It led to enlightenment. Our teams did pretty well. I learned how to work with others, because usually there are two people - not a ventriloquist and a dummy - on a debate team. 1/10

College debate was a blast. DePauw’s coach, Dr Weiss, was a great person and a mentor. He stressed values, but did not protest the trophies that fill shelves or plaques that hang on the walls of the trophy room in Greencastle. 2/10

I even coached, for several years after law school, at I.U.P.U.I. No matter the type of debate - NDT, CEDA, NEDA - or the topic, there were two rules no one could violate. Because trump violates these basic rules, he cannot debate. The rules? 3/10

Rule #1: Do not speak “over” - in two ways. First, you could not “run over” your time. When the “stop” card came up, you were to shut up. After that a debater’s comments are ignored. If the violations were continuous, a judge could give a loss. 4/10

Judges - usually coaches from other schools - were not shy about enforcement. trump - and in the VP debate this past week, pence - showed total disregard for this basic rule. Another aspect was - no one could speak “over” the other team. 5/10