Stewart and Colbert: Fixing America?

This may seem like a joke, but it isn’t.  Politics in America and the perception of what is happening in the country (promoted by America) have devolved into a game of name throwing, fear creation, and blame.  Interestingly, the government (I’m focusing mostly on the U.S. Congress, but this is broadly applicable) does not actually end up doing all that much.  You see, when politicians call each other names and degrade the positions of the other party to scare their constituents (as opposed to representatives actually representing their constituents), there is no chance for agreement on most policies.  The media has only made the situation worse.

Jon Stewart has announced his “Rally to Restore Sanity” to be held in Washington, DC on October 30.  Let’s make America sane again.  Stewart writes that the rally is for people “who feel that the loudest voices shouldn’t be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it’s appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler.”

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Logically, Steven Colbert must then have a counter rally.  His is the “March to Keep Fear Alive“.  Note that he is being ironic here – something that seems to have been lost on some people.  Colbert says that “America, the Greatest Country God ever gave Man, was built on three bedrock principles: Freedom. Liberty. And Fear — that someone might take our Freedom and Liberty. But now, there are dark, optimistic forces trying to take away our Fear.”

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I guess we will find out how effective these two funnymen are at raising awareness of the dismal state of American politics.  We can only improve.  I look forward to the (utopian?) day when politicians represent their constituents instead of themselves.