Is Classical Rhetoric a Reality Today?

in America, we are saying currently "we're the New Romans."  Ok.  What does that mean?  Does that mean Ciceronian Oratory writings are still used today?  Williams calls the work "On Oratory" irrelevant now.  So how are we the New Romans?  What does this imply about our teaching?  I think it's suffice to say that this is a false paradigm within the modern flaw of humanity where we want to set ourselves on a pedalstool, while at the same time looking backwards to see who was most like us.  It's kind of the same problem in that novel (grissly-thing) Middlemarch.  The conflict in that novel on one level is medical practices.  One of the younger docs comes in and doesn't want to prescribe medication to anyone.  Why?  It's all the same, just a different color.  Sound like something we do today?  You bet!
So what does this all have to do with Classical Rhetoric?  Plenty!  We still use the same methods of persuasion especially in courts.  (Ha-ha made me think of Valencourt.)  Valencourt is a fictional character within the novel of the Mysteries of Udolpho, who, like a classical genius, reads out loud to his love and does close readings and analyzes the poetry behind it.  He is a more relevant though still distanced from our time.  Yet in our courts, still to this day, we use Wilsonesque techniques, which are Wilsonian (and not Classical) for we use English as our medium of language over Greek.  We still use methods of persausion  that all other Classical men were taught.  The only difference now is the limitations of law and "court-side mannerisms" such as leaving out personal belief systems.
We are taught a similar way to this day especially in our writing courses.  Don't say your religious beliefs, don't discriminate, don't use foul language, don't do this, don't do that...&c &c.  Yet it's funny: I'm Catholic and I'm tutoring a guy who writes to write his term paper on the word FUCK.  Yes, looking at it can make people cringe and what not.  Yet Classical Rhetoric would stick someone in this kind of situation and make sure it is handled correctly.  So when Williams asks in his journal entry question, (which one anticipates) is there any connection between Classical Rhetoric and today?  Absolutely.  I think we now have more rules and limitations to work with and therefore the modes and reasons of persausion may seem different, but I think it's true that yes we are like New Romans though not in a militant sense as much as a Rhetoric-bent society.
What is Rhetoric anyways?  That's usually how books start and Williams' work is conventional.  But I think I'll end with my definition of what Rhetoric has become: a study of language and the methods we use to teach language and writing.