"phd rhetoric california". It turns out that Mere Rhetoric is on the first Google page when starry eyed young liberals search for rhetoric programs in California. I'd like to apologize to my professors and to my field. In fairness to me, rhetoric was born 2,500 hundred years ago by the idea that politics is about conflict and that every argument has two sides - and today it's followed the rest of the humanities into a swamp of moral exhibitionism, resentful indignation, and petulant impotence. Still, I don't want to give the wrong impression - the rhetorical tradition still has more resources to contribute to the advancement of the human condition than almost any other corner of the academy, and there are some very good rhetoric departments in the country.