The feeling of excitement and political opinion was tangible on Oct. 30 as the crowds gathered on the National Mall for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C. The rally, hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert from the Comedy Central network, was a call for the restoration of common sense in government, as well as a way for average, hard working Americans to come together to express their political ideals. It also served as a jilt to the more controversial rallies held in the recent months.

Upon first entering the National Mall, I was immersed in the large crowd of people, which rose to around 200,000 by the time the rally began. Seeing the masses holding signs toting slogans and funny satirical commentary about recent political campaigns, such as the Christine O’Donnell’s “I’m not a witch” and Sarah Palin’s intentions of running for the presidency, were creative reminders of the previous presidential elections.

Others in the crowd were in full costume, ranging from a sad clown, “tea baggers” in Lipton suits and Abraham Lincoln all made an appearance, as well as men in full-covered nylon body suits, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Elmo.

We quickly seated ourselves in the grassy section of the Mall and began to watch the large screens set up with snippets of the Daily Show and Colbert Report for the pre-show. Before long, the countdown to noon began, and the crowd became a mass of swaying bodies as the opening act, The Roots, began to play with the surprise feature of John Legend on a few numbers. The chaos of the crowd on the lower levels impeded movement, and we could see the strong support and turnout for this historical event.

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of MythBusters appeared next. They measured the seismic waves created by the masses on the Mall jumping in unison, as well as the sound of approximately 200,000 participants doing cheek pops and maniacal laughs on command. After the experiments were completed, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert took the stage and began a program of comedy and satire about the current state of affairs of the government and how we as a people could return to “sanity” by making good decisions politically and in our own lives. Their format was very similar to their Comedy Central shows and was a big hit with the crowd. Halfway through their comedic musings, there were several surprise celebrity appearances with Ozzy Osbourne, the former Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) and the O’Jays performed a mixed musical number. Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow and the song “Care” with rapper T.I. joining them via jumbo screen..

The excitement was outpoured from the hundreds of thousands of audience members and, as the program went on, the excitement refused to diminish. Tony Bennett came out to sing the “America the Beautiful.” Then the rest of the prior musical performers returned to the stage for the finale.

Awards were handed out to celebrities and citizens for “Acts of Sanity,” as well as “Acts of Fear,” as Stewart and Colbert aptly titled them. The rally came to an end at roughly 3 p.m., and the end result was great. I feel confident in saying that many, if not all, who were in attendance came away with hope and ideas for change in our country and an awareness of how our decisions and actions can bring about a better future. The rally is available for viewing on the Comedy Central web site for all who could not attend and will be aired on the television channel periodically.

By: Stephanie Tipple

Stay updated by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.