Photo by Juliette Delay

by Daniel Cassady

We couldn’t hear anything. Having arrived slightly later than we intended, we found the National Mall crowded to say the least. Actually, it was more than crowded; it was overflowing with people. John Stuart’s Rally to Restore Sanity was originally supposed to occupy the space between Third Street and Seventh Street of the National Mall in Washington D.C. Comedy Central’s pre-rally attendance estimates were around 60,000. CBS puts the actual attendance at 215,000 while CTV puts the number closer to 250,000.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder amidst a sea of people is uncomfortable. It’s a struggle to move. People make their way through the crowd looking towards the ground while repeating “Sorry. Excuse me, sorry” every few feet. A couple standing next to us was shoved aside as a small group of people, all holding hands so that they could stay together, passed in front of them.

“Watch it!” the boy said under his breath and exhaled heavily the way people do when a car runs a red light and cuts them off as they are trying to cross the street. 

“Hey,” the girl said, rather sternly “this isn’t the time or the place for that kind of attitude. It defeats the entire purpose.”

“You’re absolutely right.” The boy replied and made way with a smile as another group of people bumped and rubbed and squeezed their way past.

Photo by Juliette Delay

Every demographic was represented. I saw old men in well-worn Grateful Dead T-shirts, Young Republican types in blue blazers, khaki pants and red ties, New parents pushing strollers and rollerblading twelve-year-old girls. Halloween being the following day, there were even people dressed in elaborate costumes: rocket ships and jelly fish and Abraham Lincolns and Sarah Palins. And there were signs. Oh so many signs. “I am not afraid of you Glen Beck.” “Legalize it!” “Save the clock tower.” “Muslim does not equal terrorist.” These were just a few of he countless signs being hoisted high into the sunny, brisk Washington afternoon. Every set of steps leading into every building on the streets that border The Mall served as bleachers for people who just wanted to be there, to be a part of what was going on. Empty dumpsters that would be filled with garbage after the Rally were lined with people hoping to get a better view of the stage. The roofs of port-a-potties held two or three people each. There were even people in trees. And the one thing all of these people had in common was that they were calm; happy to be there just for the sake of being there.

Photo by Juliette Delay

Most people were curious as to whether this rally was going to be a politically charged event or an over hyped comedy show that happened to be taking place at the same venue that hosted the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 and the Vietnam War Moratorium Rally in 1969, the former being where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a dream” speech. The Rally to Restore Sanity wasn’t on par with either of those historic occasions, but I don’t think that was actually the point. There was no mention of the Democratic or Republican parties and he didn’t urge everyone to vote. What he did do, and this is what should be considered a remarkable achievement, is convince more than 200,000 people to gather in one place and be polite to one another. I doubt more than one fifth of the people in attendance could actually see or here what was going on, but they were there. And they stayed for the entirety of the three-hour program.

Ultimately, The Rally to Restore Sanity was more a festival than anything else, musicians played and jokes were told. That being said, Stuart’s closing speech was a moving, heartfelt plea for moderation in the media.

“If we amplify everything,” Stuart said, “we hear nothing…the press is our immune system, if it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker.”