I wrote not long ago about a day when current events and the news in general gave me great cause for concern. Today the opposite happened; my daily trek through the news gave me a spark of optimism that I’d like to share. I believe strongly in the need for political moderation and cooperation, and feel like the polarizing effect of bitter partisanship is damaging to our nation. Today’s news convinced me that I might not be alone. I first read an article by Fareed Zakaria (a political commentator and frequent contributor to Newsweek, Time, & CNN), who I have generally found seems to care more about fixing problems than proving one side or the other wrong. The article (link) about jobs in America wasn’t particularly moving, but I appreciated the straightforwardness of it. He didn’t blame China or Republicans or Democrats for our problems, his general idea was that we can’t keep consuming more than we produce, in the government or in the private sector, and expect improvements. I believe the following quote from the article is the root of our inability to solve problems, “The problem in Washington is that the minute one side suggests something, the other side demagogues it. So the incentive to come to the center is vanishing.” I completely agree and think we spend a lot of time convinced that something is wrong just because it came from the wrong side of the aisle.
Next, I saw some coverage of the Rally to Restore Sanity (link). For those not familiar, this was a rally in DC put on by Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart, two satirical political commentators from Comedy Central. While the event was basically just a facetious rally in response to Glenn Beck’s Rally to Restore Honor, it had a serious note to it. In general, the event seemed to have a theme of opposing political extremism. The rally was attended by over 200,000 people, some of whom were just there for entertainment, but many of whom shared the idea that moderation is needed in our government. Some of the following quotes I think make this point.

• From an attendee: “This is about moderation, and less about right and left. There is too much hyperbole and not enough sanity.”
• From BBC’s (the most neutral news available) coverage of the event: “Much of his message was against the sensationalism and divisiveness of both the media and politicians generally.”
• A sign at the rally held by people in mime costumes (Halloween weekend): “We represent the silent majority.”
• Another sign, “I’m a little annoyed but I’ll get over it.”
• From Stewart and Colbert:
• “This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or to look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and we have nothing to fear…They are, and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies, but unfortunately one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.”
• “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing”
• “Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Republicans or Democrats, but as people who are just a little bit late for something they have to do, often something they do not want to do. But they do it.”

Here are few more quotes from an editorial (link) about the event.

• “And so the extremists on both ends are the ones screaming the loudest and so the rest of us are in the middle thinking that we’re not being heard.”
• “We have to work together to solve problems, but our polarized politics and the partisan media are stopping our ability to reason together as Americans.”
• “The rally’s size and enthusiasm was evidence of a growing demand for something different — an alternative to predictable talking points and the partisan spin cycle, a desire for humor and honesty, independence and integrity. It is both an opportunity and an obligation.”

So let me add my opinion to share with anyone unhappy with the state of affairs in our nation. It’s not the liberals’ fault, and it’s not the conservatives’ fault. I hope those more concerned with solutions than labels can continue to make their voice heard, and the voice of civility and compromise can bring progress.