Stewart Restores Sanity to Crowd of Six Billion

This weekend, I attended Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Originally billed as separate events, the rallies combined and completely took over the National Mall, drawing a crowd of 6 billion, according to Colbert (more serious estimates put the crowd around 200,000).

Southwest Airlines made me little late to the rally, so I missed most of the musical performances and had to spend a significant amount of time searching for a way around the giant line of port-a-potties into the Mall. When I finally did make through I was barely able to hear the show through the hilariously inadequate sound system, and I could only see the corner of the jumbotron if I stood on my toes. I later found out that Comedy Central had anticipated only 60,000 people to attend the rally, and presumably planned the speaker arrangement accordingly. People who watched on TV got a better view of the show than I did. What happened onstage was only part of the rally, though.

The crowd was a remarkable conglomeration of people. Attendees were of all ages and from all walks of life, with varying political views and levels of sincerity. I saw signs urging cooperation, stating political ambivalence and, most prevalent, advocating the legalization of marijuana. Some signs were just silly: one said “Free the House Elves” and another “Yes We Did… Twice This Morning”. I have never been in a crowd with fewer petty arguments about someone blocking someone else’s view or talking too loudly. It was possibly the most reasonable, good natured gathering of people I have ever been in. By far the best part of the rally, though, was Stewart’s closing speech, a well placed moment of sincerity in a day of fun.

After indicting cable news for fear mongering Stewart said, to loud applause, that the people in this country “work together every damn day” and that the only place they don’t is in government. And it’s true – whether it’s letting a slow driver merge onto the freeway or working on a group project, we make concessions because that’s the only way anything works. Those who govern seem to have forgotten this. Sharron Angle, Nevada Senate candidate, has actually run her campaign on a platform of no compromise; and she has a decent shot at winning. Rather than compromising, our representatives in government are shouting each other down.

I was standing on the Mall in 2009 when Barack Obama told a crowd of millions that it was “time to put away childish things.” I have since seen Obama and his party act like fools for almost two years, getting just enough done to act indignant when accused of having accomplished nothing. I’m sure they were too tied up in Midterm strategizing, but I hope the President and members of Congress were listening to Stewart’s speech. They needed to hear it more than we did.