Here’s a moment from the Rally to Restore Sanity. (See video below).

Jon Stewart, in words that mix humor with seriousness, talks about the forces in our culture (chiefly 24-hour cable news) that promote divisiveness and — presumably — insanity.

Speaking to the great mass of us who are “in the middle,” Stewart says:

“The inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe not more … “

“We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate. And how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done. The truth is that we do.

“We work together to get things done every damn day …

“Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.

“Most American don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives.

“Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do, often something they do not want to do, but they do it. Impossible things that are only made possible by the little reasonable compromises we all make …

“Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. It’s just New Jersey.”