Rallying to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

Note: I wrote this before the rally this past weekend and posted it on my stock blog. I'm reposting it here.

As we approach Election Day 2010, there will be rallies all throughout the nation. Some will rally for Republicans, some for Democrats, some for Tea Party and other Independent candidates. But, there is one rally that should unite us all, one that transcends all the fear-mongering, partisan bickering, venomous rhetoric, and unbridled rage that we have seen American political discourse become. Naturally, I refer to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, which will take place on Saturday, October 30th in Washington DC at the National Mall.

The Daily Show is a satirical news show on Comedy Central hosted by Jon Stewart. It’s meant to poke fun at news coverage and current events and is tailored after your evening national news. There’s also The Colbert Report, hosted by Stephen Colbert, which is a satirical take on news talk shows, likely tailored after Bill O’Reilly as Colbert claims. Knowing the rally is being put on by a pair of comedians, it’s very tempting to dismiss it, but please don’t make that mistake. They have a message.

The rally’s website, www.rallytorestoresanity.com, provides a great overview of who the rally is for and what it’s about. Two quotes sum it up nicely.

First is, “We’re looking for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn’t be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it’s appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler.”

Next is, “Ours is a rally for the people who’ve been too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs (or are looking for jobs) — not so much the Silent Majority as the Busy Majority. If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence… we couldn’t. That’s sort of the point.”

These two quotes pretty much say it all. These people make up the majority of the population. We run the political spectrum from right to center to left. We believe that the venomous political climate currently in the USA is highly counterproductive. We want to solve problems. The belief of the people attending this rally is that if the American people do not transcend partisanship, we cannot come together to solve the major problems our nation is facing. And, if there’s one thing we all probably agree on, it’s that the USA has problems that need fixing. I’ll spare you the long list. This is a rally for people who want to get away from partisanship and start actually solving our problems, who see something wrong with demonizing, insulting, and hating someone who disagrees with you, and who want to see sanity injected back into the American political dialogue.

I have two other points of note about the rally. First, you can also go to www.saneornot.com to see some of the signage that may or may not be present at the rally. There are some great signs there. Second, the rally is actively encouraging donations to the Trust for the National Mall. Further, all proceeds from merchandise sales will also be donated to that very same trust. As the name implies, the Trust is responsible for the upkeep of the National Mall. It’s where the monuments to some of our greatest leaders reside, and these need the funding for upkeep so future Americans can remember the greatness of these leaders.

This is a rally calling for the restoration of civility to American political discourse. It’s a call for a refocusing of our energies away from tearing each other down and back on rebuilding America. Every single American knows that we have the talent, work ethic, and determination to fix the ills that plague our nation. We just need to get ourselves recalibrated on combating our problems instead of each other.

If you attend, you also have the added benefit of being in Washington DC when all the politicians are away, many in desperate struggles to keep their jobs. There is no saner time to be in Washington DC than when the politicians are back home. I’ll be there. Will you?