I was a on the verge of teenagerhood in 1968 watching, confused and sad, at my world – the one on TV and the one in my neighborhood – come apart at the seams as the result of the 60′s dementia. Then one night I discovered Firing Line. I cannot fully express what watching Bill goad, laugh, and cofnfound his smug liberal guests night after night did in my psyche. It was pure joy. Reasoned discourse, rational thought and all with a joie de vivre utterly absent in the dour, self-righteous purveyors of leftist enslavement at the time. I was so entralled i joined the debate club at High school, regularly contradicted into silence my leftist teachers, and even took up classical music and sailing. Bill, you got a lot of us through those dark times.

Blessings, blessings, blessings upon you.