EDITOR'S NOTE: Eight staff members and an adviser from the White Pine Press, Northwestern Michigan College's student newspaper, attended a rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday organized by television personalities Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The rally was designed as a tongue-in-cheek alternative to events staged by tea party and other conservative activists, and attracted tens of thousands of young people to the nation's capital on the eve of the November mid-term election.
"Everyone has a right to be patriotic" — Jon Stewart, comedian and host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hundreds of thousands of disgruntled U.S. citizens descended on the Washington Mall in an attempt to "Restore Sanity," symbolic of a sentiment that's been growing among a segment of Americans for quite some time.
The immense rally, hosted by Comedy Central personalities Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, featured masses of people looking for a medium in which to air their grievances.
Rally participants varied in age, class, race and nearly any other identifier. And while satire served as the event's foundation, a common bond linked nearly all attendees: discontent. The nature and extent of discontent varied, but it easily prevailed over all other outcries.
"Our current political process is simply not feasible," said Virginia resident Ronnie Davis. "We cannot keep doing the same thing over and over and expect anything to change."
Noticeably absent from Saturday's festivities were those pleased with the state of affairs at all levels of government. Posters flew and chants reverberated throughout a crowd that demanded change.
Factions of attendees varied in cultural backgrounds from hippie to neo-Nazi to ultra conservative, but their voices carried similar connotations.
"We're here to do anything we can to lift up our voices in opposition to the insanity going on in Congress and the government to support a progressive movement," said Jeanne Butterfield of Washington, D.C. "Young people, who are the vast majority of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's supporters, are fed up with business as usual."
Rallies don't make policy, but sizable, media-monitored gatherings don't go unnoticed. And such events help give a voice to those who may consider themselves voiceless.
"I think it chips away at some of our cynicism and complacency," Butterfield said.
Onlookers bore signs, shirts and in some cases body art in hopes of having their past governmental disappointments and future aspirations known. The issues that concerned the raucous crowds were, for the most part, the same hot button, overly analyzed topics argued on a nightly basis by political pundits.
But those who made the journey want their issues considered.
"This is a needed thing to point out the farce that's going on" said Baltimore native David Truscello. "It helps people understand they need to be critically aware."
Saturday's events likely won't result in much more than temporary fanfare and improved ratings for the event's hosts, but onlookers appeared pleased with the message.
"It energizes us because each and every person will go home and text message and send photos and the movement will continue to grow," Truscello said.
Zach Nitzkin is managing editor of the White Pine Press, Northwestern Michigan College's student newspaper.
