The Rally!

As many of you probably know, this weekend, Saturday specifically, is the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally and I am, as a loyal moderate Democrat, going. I know a lot of people are going because it'll be fun to see Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in person and hear what they have to say while being surrounded by, I'll guess, 200,000 people. A lot of them are going because they think it's going to be fun, or funny. While I think it's going to be fun, and will involve comedy, it's important to look past the first layer. Yes, Jon Stewart is a funny guy with witty observations, but that's no reason to gather hundreds of thousands of people. There has to be something more... something below the humor; and I believe there is. For me, the rally will be fun and funny but it's also a chance to make known the fact that extremism is a dangerous path. This is true with anything from religion to diet. Too much of anything with a complete disregard for its counterpart, or alternatives leads to some pretty bad situations (we've seen a few throughout history).

For my own part, I'm going to the rally because I do agree with one of the tag lines, "The only person who should have a Hitler mustache drawn on them is Hitler, or Charlie Chaplin in some roles." Even though it sounds funny, that's a statement that I really believe in and support. In America, why is it acceptable to portrait the leader of your country as Hitler when his actions are so vastly different? It's an insult to him, to the country, and to the office of president. We have to get back to respect! Many of the people we've talked to have said that the situation in Washington (heavy partisanship) would get better if Congressmen did what they used to... drink together! I'm not just using a made-up example. Specifically, leaders in Washington have said that back in the day, when, regardless of what had happened on the floor, Republicans and Democrats could go out for a drink together, things got done in Congress! Nowadays, Congressmen hate having to spend time with the other party. It used to be the case that you could agree to disagree on ideology but you still respected the person. Not so today, and I blame the media to a certain extent. Firstly, Congressmen hosting big parties to which both sides of the aisle are invited and going out drinking would make for a field day for the media, so that can't be done. A sound bite in which a Democrat says he agrees with a Republican would be cut up and used as leverage against him immediately, so they can't risk that. Finally, when you only have 30 seconds to talk to your voters in a commercial what are you going to say? Are you going to talk about how you think the other side has some good ideas and that if it's in the best interest of the country you might be willing to compromise even if your state needs to make a small sacrifice? No! You're going to talk about how you'll do whatever it takes to reform business as usual in Washington, because you're not a Washington insider. You stick to the values that your great state instilled in you and no amount of persuasion from lobbyists or other elected officials is going to change your mind. Then what happens?? You get a Washington and realize that if you stick to your guns all the time, nothing is going to get done but if you compromise you'll be accused of lying during your campaign and you won't get the support or have the fund-raising ability to get reelected. So now what? You sit and add as much pork as you can to bills so that when you go home you can show your constituents that you're in it for them.

What I've just described is true across the board for elected officials in Washington and both sides agree on it. Civility is gone, camaraderie is gone, and even though both sides acknowledge it, they can't change it because it will mean possibly losing reelection because the American public has gotten so used to bigotry, attack ads, and promises to not compromise.

It's a tough situation we're in and it'll be a while before we're out of it, most likely.

Finally, the point I'm making is that the rally this weekend represents the way things used to be. People who have different opinions being able to come together and talk civilly about issues that are important to everyone. I know that while you're reading this some of you are thinking, "Both sides won't be there, this is an event for Democrats." While it's true that most in attendance will most likely be Democrats, the values that it professes are values which we can all embrace.

I'd like to leave you with a line from a song called "Gulf War Song." Look it up, it's really good a capella.

"What makes a person so poisonous righteous, that they'd think less of anyone who just disagrees?"