Reflections on the Rally to Restore Sanity

(written November 2, 2010)

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to be able to attend The Rally To Restore Sanity in Washington D.C. I was luckier still, to be one of the fortunate few (few-ish) who were close enough to actually hear what was said. While the Rally was satisfying, in whatever way you can say that, on many fronts I felt it was ultimately characterized by a barely-concealed nervousness about what was in store for the future of this country.

Most news outlets are reporting attendance in the neighborhood of 250,000. Sadly, the permit secured by Comedy Central for the event only accommodated about 60,000, leaving many people unable to hear or see anything that was going on, even on the screens posted around the Washington Mall. I would venture to guess as many as 60,000 came from the Washington metropolitan area. I'm not sure of the cause behind this gross underestimation, but it is unfortunate because there were important things said.

Apart from a generally jovial atmosphere, it was nice to be able to strike up friendly conversations with complete strangers—something pretty uncharacteristic of Washington D.C. I spoke with people from all over, of all ages, and all with different reasons for being there. I was both surprised and pleased at the number of older people in attendance. It was by no means a college-age crowd, as many expected. Many of them would have looked more at home at a Tea Party rally. As well as I could tell, most were there to have fun, get a few laughs and see the nation's capital. The signs were fantastic, I wish I had taken more pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

“I'm not sure if it's illegal to solicit alcohol on the Washington Mall, but if it isn't that might possibly be what I'm doing”

I clapped for this guy as I passed him and he turned to me and said “man, it works!” Another brilliant idea I did not think of.

A middle-aged woman sitting with two small children held a sign reading:

“You should fear me because I am 1) a woman 2) a Muslim 3) a socialist and 4) a mother.” The last one deepened the meaning of her otherwise amusing statement. It also underlined the serious side of the rally which outside observers may not have detected.

“My wife thinks I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail”

“I want my country back....or a pony....one of the two.”

“Hey Christine O'Donnel, I Masturbate and I Vote!”

(many European news outlets elected to focus on O'Donnel's condemnation of masturbation in the 1990s)

and of course....

“Save Ferris”

While the signs were undoubtedly one of the event's main attractions, not everyone was content to simply go along with the smirking discourse set forth by Stewart and Colbert. Clearly, many people saw this as an anti-Tea Party rally, and a search to reconnect with rational politics. Some were there to laugh, some were gravely serious. Contrast the above signs with:

“I like having roads, schools and police departments, quit whining and pay your taxes.”

“What would Trotsky do?”

“Tea Party Supporters: I can use this sign to show you the value of the public option.”

Ok, that last one comes from drunken conversations with an old friend, but I'll use it as a filler because I can't actually recall many of the more serious ones. The point is, a large number of the people there really got behind the message that there is something wrong with the direction in which this country is going. Many weren't there to laugh.

I've promised myself I wouldn't use this blog to discuss politics. While I am very interested in politics and do often engage in debates and discussions of such, ultimately I don't feel it's what should consume our private thoughts and conversations. We must keep part of ourselves for better things. We must not forget what is before us as individuals, what gives us joy and what moves us, no matter how many banners and broadcasts fill the air. That being said, I wasn't at the Rally To Restore Sanity because I felt we were really going to establish anything or reverse the trend of extremism going on this country, but I was nervous to see how many of my fellow Rally attendees were. And I can't blame them.

These are difficult times in the United States of America, and while I tend to regard patriotism much as Bertrand Russel did, I'm not so naive as to believe real change happens overnight, or in two years, or in four. There are a lot of great things about the country I live in and there are a lot of terrible things, all we can do is live in our tiny circle of social influence and hope to make things better for those we touch.

While this post is dated for November 2^nd, the election results aren't in yet and my internet is down so I can't even see how things are going. I wanted to get this out beforehand, even though I know there's virtually no chance of Congress doing anything for the next two years (can we suspend their pay until then?). The United States is a strange animal with a long series of veterinary appointments ahead of it. In the Bush years we saw what extreme conservatism does to a country, and in the Obama years we have seen how hard that machine is to change. We must stop seeing the founding fathers as deities and understand that while men who lived over 200 years ago may have had some great ideas, not all of them are readily applicable to the modern world. We must also recognize that they didn't live in such politically polarized times.

I'm not sure what the answer ultimately is, but this ever-diverging path American politics finds itself on will never make our country 'great' again. We need to constantly adjust to the climate of our time if we're to survive, let alone flourish. We must abandon rhetoric for reason if we're to stay afloat. How quickly we forget the great empires of the past who surpassed us in all ways, comparatively speaking.

Jon Stewart ended the Rally with what I felt was a particularly touching speech wherein he tried to show that we, as a people, are not how we're portrayed in the 24 hour American news media. We're so much more and it is only when we are caricatured that we can be recipients of hate; we have more in common than we do in opposition. He tried to make a joke or two during this speech, but the dead silence he was met with undoubtedly discouraged him from making more—America was listening and it desperately wanted to be reassured that we aren't condemned to a future of division. “These are hard times, not end times” Stewart said. Only by believing we are so conceptually oppositional can we make the attitudes on the television an every-day reality.

He seemed at that moment to wish he were anything but a comedian, because coming from a comedian this message, which the United States needed so desperately, can always be undermined. It's unfortunate that in these difficult times the most honest and essential things that need to be said come from a man who is denied legitimacy by his trade. His ever-passing trade, in my opinion. Jon Stewart had to hide behind humor because the circus he lambasted so in his closing speech would never allow him to be otherwise. Despite this, I think the Rally To Restore Sanity succeeded in reassuring us that rationality still has a place in this country, even though it often seems to be otherwise. I can only hope, that like so many things in the past which were supposed to destroy us (us as a people, not as Americans) these hard times will too be weathered and pass into barely-noted history.