Yesterday’s announcement by Colin Powell got me thinking about rhetoric in America. Certainly, we’ve seen a great deal during this presidential election.

I chose to write about Powell’s announcement because I think this is such a crucial election. It is rare that I choose to write about personal thoughts, especially political thoughts, in this blog. I hope you’ll at least humor me. If we disagree, let’s at least do it politely. I’m not one for political bickering.

My post, The Well Reasoned Clear Thoughts of Colin Powell, puts a little history behind the whole story. Tom Brokaw even brought up Powell’s history on Meet the Press. A full recording is available on iTunes, by the way. You can watch it on your computer. You don’t need an iPod.

After pondering yesterday’s Meet the Press, I began to think of the two videos to your right. Powell’s 2003 speech to the U.N. and Adlai Stevenson’s appearance before the U.N. in 1962. There we have two great examples of rhetoric and its impact on the world.

In turn, this also made me think about how little attention we give rhetoric in school today. Oh, sure, we offer some great speech courses. But, I fear students don’t pay enough attention to the great wealth of resources online dealing with rhetoric. That’s why I’m sharing this post.

One of my favorite sites is American Rhetoric, “Rationalize rhetoric and it speaks to your mind; personify her and she speaks to your soul.” This is one of the greatest collections of terrific speeches you’ll find anywhere.

From their Top 100 Speeches of the 20th century to the greatest movies speeches, you’ll find it all at American Rhetoric. A treasure of great speeches. They break down their database in many sections. Examples are:

• Top 100 speeches by decade
• Top 100 speeches by women
• the American Rhetoric speech data bank

If you’re really into this, consider reading Vital Speeches of the Day. It is available in all good libraries. I subscribed to this years ago. I’d do it again, if I had the money. Love that periodical. Funny, I’m sure to some, but I like reading them. The speeches given around the world really do go so far in shaping public policy and we likely don’t pay enough attention to them.

The speech below is a dramatization from one of my favorite books, All The Kings Men. If you haven’t read it, you’ve missed a life changing event. Seriously, it is considered by many to be one of the great American novels. For me, it ranks right up there with Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. You really need to read them both. Each is filled with great rhetorical examples. Don’t forget Inherit The Wind, too.

Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark. American Rhetoric

Find more videos like this on PROpenMic

Don’t guess we’ll see this kind of rhetoric, even in drama, again. We certainly won’t see it from Obama, McCain, Palin or Biden. ;o)

So, what do you say. Let’s spend a little time appreciating great rhetoric. More importantly, let’s pay attention to what people are saying around the world. Also, as in the example of Powell above, let’s pay to all they’ve said over time. Getting the full true picture is always the best practice.