Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

The major theme of both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report is that the debate in this country is being controlled by ideological zealots, or media companies who can't figure out how to report the news without making it seems as if an atomic bomb is about to drop on us, while the vast majority of Americans are reasonable people who want reasonable solutions. They both approach this theme by using satire to make folks laugh, but intentional or not, both shows have a point and we'd be wise to listen a bit. Let's take an example:

Christine O'Donnell is running for Senate in Delaware. Now, if you have followed the race at all, or even caught a blurb about it on a news program, you probably know that Ms. O'Donnell admitted to "dabbling in witchcraft" at one point in her life. You also know that she appeared on MTV 14 years ago to say that masturbation is immoral. New organizations love this kind of stuff because it makes people talk, but I'd like to present another angle.......who gives a shit? If you are looking for someone who has never said or done anything questionable in their entire life to vote for, well, good luck!

The problem with Ms. O'Donnell is that she is ignorant. She has little knowledge of the Constitution, which she claims as her guiding light. She has mislead people time and time again about her education credentials. She has also presented no actual plan to address any issue we face today. But, the reality is, most people don't know about those issues at all. I talk to people who say, "who is Christine O'Donnell?" One quick reminder about masturbation and *bam* the memory is jogged.

The media, however, emphasizes the most extreme and ridiculous presumably because they feel that's what we want to know. My guess is that it's less about that being what we want to know, and more about that's all we hear. At any rate, the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear is about trying to chill out that rhetoric a bit.

The rally is about showing people that the extreme fringes of the debate in this country shouldn't be the driving force. Rather, reasonable people should get together to solve some problems. People are encouraged to bring signs to the rally, but they should be, well, sane! In fact, the rally has set up a website to post some ideas for sane rally signs. A good example: I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler.

Anyway, check it out. The wife and I are going and would be happy to carpool if anyone is interested. The rally is free to attend (FYI: so are most of the museums in D.C., so it could be a pretty inexpensive weekend getaway), and on October 30th.

Be Sane!