Rally to Restore Sanity

It's great to see democracy in action. Yesterday the Rally to Restore Sanity showed just that. Yes it was hosted by two comedians (but how does one actually classify Glenn Beck). But I think it proved a point that there are many people who want the hyper-rhetoric toned down.

Here's part of what Jon Stewart said in closing out the rally from USA Today:

So what exactly was this? I can't control what people think this was, I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism, or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and we have nothing to fear. They are and we do.

But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies. But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country's 24-hour politico-pundit- perpetual-panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder.

The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bring them into focus, illuminating issues -- or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing. …

Not being able to distinguish between real racists and tea partiers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez, is an insult not only to those people, but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more. ...

That being said, I feel strangely, calmly good, because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a funhouse mirror, and not the good kind that makes you look slim and maybe taller, but the kind that gives you a giant forehead and maybe an ass shaped like a month-old pumpkin. We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of disaster, torn by polarizing hate. …

The truth is, we work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don't is here, or on cable TV -- but Americans don't live here or on cable TV. ... We know that as a people if we're going to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. ...

And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the promised land, it's just New Jersey, but we do it anyway.

Here are a couple of videos from the Rally to Restore Sanity







This last one is all of Jon Stewart's final statement:

A Taste of Rally to Restore Sanity

Hands down for me the funniest thing at the rally (and making a great point too) was this guy and the sign he was carrying.

More from Rally to Restore Sanity

These first two pictures are some of the funniest at the rally. The first one poked fun at some of over the top rhetoric from the right. The second one is just damn funny.

Everywhere a Sign

A whole host of very clever signs and in some cases costumes. The humor should not be lost on making a serious point. It's time to tone things down a little. Just because we disagree with each other doesn't mean that we are enemies. The opposing viewpoint isn't necessarily trying to destroy the country.

It was interesting to watch the coverage on the local Fox station. They did show one of the signs making fun of Fox. Then the reporter said how it was a "lefty crowd" and he said it more than once.

The last picture is the steps of the National Archives; it gives a sense of the number of people on and near the Mall for the rally.

Humor at the Rally

Christine O'Donnell certainly took her share of hits at the rally. These are just two of the signs I saw and in my opinion the two funniest.

Final Picutres from the Rally

This is the largest crowd I've seen in DC since the inauguration. It was a great deal of fun. But it also had an important point one that I've made over and over again. We've let the people who yell the loudest on the right and left dictate the agenda. Reasonable discourse seems to have completely disappeared and that's no way to run a country.

Hopefully people not at the rally will get that from the news coverage and maybe they'll stop and think. One can hope.