“…to be a better friend, citizen and thinker.” Yes! So much focus currently goes to (identity) politics and what’s appropriate for people in groups that we’ve lost sight of the importance of interpersonal communication.

To your point, it’s easier to speak on behalf of others for the purpose of winning at being right, morally superior or entitled via victimhood that people aren’t satisfied with finding common ground because the goal is to win, not connect.

Even so, I share your hope because I believe that even though it’s innate to want to identify with a group for our safety, it is equally (if not more so) human to long deeply for connection and we won’t betray that so easily.

By the way, Michael, as subscribers, are we to expect only one post a month?

I would tweak the following statement a bit: “What’s being lost isn’t just skill. It’s a civic disposition—a basic commitment to the idea that we owe one another argument, not aggression. That we should seek to persuade, not overpower.”

I would change that last sentence to:

“We should engage robust rational dialogue with those who hold different views in order to find truth, not to “win.”

Is debate club really the best place for that though? I've heard in recent years debate club has become way more procedure obsessed. As in, it's not about crafting a convincing argument, or even an argument that makes sense, but one that hits all the keywords and so overwhelms the opponent with fast-talking, short supporting points so that it's impossible to address them all thus leading to a better score. Which is indicative of all the society-wide problems you describe here, really, just on a smaller scale.