Jon Stewart's lessons in democracy

By Barry Johnson

Jon Stewart's The Rally to Restore Sanity has already begun to generate a ton of commentary, so I'm hesitant to add more to the pile, especially because Stewart's own ongoing critique of the media, especially his own medium, cable television, describes the condition of political discussion in the U.S. better than I can. And his practical solution makes for great comedy -- holding up the more idiotic formulations of our politicians and pundits to unrelenting ridicule.

The demands of his show make him a little less patient than I am, on the one hand, and, oddly perhaps, better grrounded on the other. He and his writers have to listen to a lot of nonsense in order to refine the best nuggets into comedy gold. They listen to stuff I dismiss instantly, without a thought. They deserve my thanks just for that, because those opinions need analysis, too, not to mention ridicule!

Back to the rally. I have embedded Stewart's closing comments below. The best part for me is toward the end, a great little discussion of the importance of tolerance to practical problem-solving, the kind of tolerance that has vanished from our politics, especially our election politics, built as they are on demonizing the opponent. (A transcription of those paragraphs follows the jump.)