Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

Yesterday we took a trip to D.C. to attend Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Ironically, it was one of the more insane days we have had since we moved here.

We left fairly early - departing our house slightly before 8am. It was just a warm-up run, however, as we decided to take a 20 minute detour to return home and get her shoes that we forgot. Officially on the road by 8:20am, we had very little trouble getting to the rally. There was a 10 or so minute line to get tickets on the metro station, a 10 minute wait for the train to depart, a 20-ish minute train ride, and a 20-ish minute walk. All told, we had our spot claimed about half way back in the crowd (we know because the MythBusters timed how long it took to do a wave from the stage to the back of the crowd) at around 10:30am.

Getting home? That was a different story. I don't really want to talk about it.

It was definitely the biggest crowd I have ever been in. The scientific estimates put the numbers at 215,000 people on the National Mall. However, there were so many people there that apparently a ton of people got frustrated and watched it in local bars instead (including the one other person I know that went). We were just behind the last TV/speaker setup (there were 3 others between us and the stage). Knowing that we were only in the middle of the group, there were a lot of people who didn't see or hear anything behind us.

A ton of people are making a big deal about how the attendance numbers trounced the 87,000 people who showed up to Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally, but D.C. being an incredibly young and liberal city, it doesn't surprise me that a few T.V. stars, some thinly veiled politics, and a healthy dose of rock stars could draw a large crowd to a free "anti-system" event.

I was thinking about spewing off a big analysis of the event, but to be honest, I'm an end-user of politics/politicians. I treat the political system like I treat car manufacturers. When it's time for me to buy a new car, I don't base my decision solely on advertisements or what friends tell me. I do enough research to make an informed decision but I can't quote you the exact oil capacity of the front differential. I don't try to convince the world that my car is better than theirs and I definitely don't pretend that I know how to build cars better than the car manufacturers. For the most part I pay my repair bills without complaining but on the very rare occasion that I feel my local service department is trying to screw me, I'll speak up - but not too loud.  I definitely don't ride around town with those dealer license plate holders or worse - those decals they put on before you drive off the lot. In fact, I pretty much hate all car dealerships and really don't think I'd ever find one I'd be willing to advertise I bought my car from. I don't really enjoy talking about cars with people--I know there are car people out there, but I'm not one of them so please, don't try to talk about cars with me. And unfortunately, until they come up with transporters to do away with cars (I hope they do), I know cars will be part of my daily life. I just accept that and move on - trying to pick the best one I can at the time.

I felt like there were a lot of people with similar viewpoints around me. Sure, there were a ton of vocal people doing their politicking but I couldn't help to think that a good chunk of these people also refuse to put campaign signs up in their yards and probably haven't protested anything in their lives.

But yes, I admit, I do in fact take comfort in that there were 2.5 times more people at the "Sanity" rally than at Glenn Beck's rally.