Rally to Restore Sanity

Well. If you didn't know Ben and I went to the Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington DC --- we don't talk enough.

This trip will have to come in a couple of different posts. But should start with the crowning jewel of the trip. About 2 months ago, it was announced that The Daily Show and the Colbert Report was doing a rally for the 'moderates' of the country. Only Ben can really tell you how much I flipped out over this - and really how much I wanted to go. 1) for fun 2) to be a part of this historic event (i knew it would be huge) 3) I really do consider myself a moderate and struggle with the extreme points of view and competitiveness that our 2 party system can often be made up of.

I'm going to skip right to the rally - 2 days into our trip.
We were staying in Philadelphia with a friend... 2 1/2 hours from Washington DC. We were up at 5am and making the 2 hour drive through the corner of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and parking in Maryland metro station for another 1/2 hour ride into Washington DC. Thankfully - we had been to DC last April and new our way around the Mall well.

2 1/2 hours early - we followed an already enormous crowd to the capitol. Picking up towels, buttons, stickers, signs along the way -
(I'm putting up some videos. Not the most flattering of me or award winning - but you'll get the idea).




We hustled to the mall and actually had the chance to stand/sit up pretty close near the stage! But - Ben had the smarts to sacrifice about 100 feet back to be positioned in front of the first screen/speaker. Which was the best idea. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see anything.
For the next couple of hours Ben held our spot (studying) while I went on a picture rampage.

People were pretty eager to get their pictures taken.
The magnitude of people was what was amazing. AMAZING. 215,000 people. Every cool, calm and collected. Of course there were signs out to legalize pot - and if you watch any of the videos you'll see beach balls bouncing through the crowd - they all say legalize pot. But whatever.
215,000 people.



When it was time to start - we were crammed in there pretty darn tight. That's when I reminded Ben he was a genius for putting us in front of the screen.

Bottom line. Jon Stewart is awesome. The rally was fun, moving, and refreshing.
If you soak up anything from this blog post - please let it be Jon's explanation for the rally.

I can't get the video to come up here.... so please - WATCH - here.