The Rallying Cry

It seems the new metric to measure political movements is a rally. And it seems that the most recent progressive themed rally hasn't lived up to the Beck rally status.

Let me first of all say, thats dumb. Most people cant and wont travel to a rally in D.C. Its a very expensive city, and in this economy, weighing the pros and cons of that trip is very difficult. So, to say one side had a bigger rally and thus is in the drivers seat is simply silly.

But, it is interesting. Rallies are becoming the in thing... Beck had a big one, progressive groups just had one this weekend, John Stewart and Steven Colbert have one at the end of the month. Each has there own theme, but in the end its just about bringing people out for TV cameras and delivering a message.

For Beck, the message was far different than his talk radio and TV shows. He talked about faith, conservative roots, getting back to the simple things in life. These are things an entire country can get behind. Too bad his talk radio and TV hours are committed to talking about Marxist plots to take over the country and take your guns. Makes him look like the self proclaimed rodeo clown he is.

This weekend we had the One Nation rally, put together by a couple workers unions and some educational lobbyist groups to talk about progressive thoughts, but they really talked more about the other sides douchyness than they did themselves. Which, or course, makes them look horrible. They even started the crowd battle, which they ultimately lost by a bit, trying to look as if more people wanted to be there. Dumb.

Listen, in the end, true Americans dont go to rallys. True Americans are worried about keeping their jobs, going to kids soccer games, keeping a marriage together. Thats why I love the theme of Jon Stewart's rally, "We are here from 12 to 3, and then we have to leave because we have a sitter." Never has the American spirit been more captured.

If you think that most of the country believes Obama is a Muslim Marxist, you are crazy. If you think all tea partiers are racist idiots who want to shoot you, you are crazy. But if you think that we as a country are a bunch of disaffected individuals who want results to make our lives, our country, and our world a better place, you have a good idea there. Now if only somebody was listening...