A month ago today was both the last Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the GOP’s first presidential debate hosted by FOX News. It was a weird day. Like most of you who have signed this petition so far, it was hard to comprehend going through the absurdity of another election cycle without our humorous bulls**t detector: Jon Stewart. Stewart provided catharsis for the frustrated patriot who believes in a country that is yet to be. Our understanding and love of this nation is not built upon a nostalgia for an idealized past, but the belief that a group of human beings can work together to create a place where justice, freedom, and human rights are secure for all. We look to the future and it is exhausting, because we know despite all the beautiful victories that have been achieved throughout our history, we still have a way to go. But as battered optimists we do our part for those that will inherit the history we create today, because it honors those that have already sacrificed so much for US. According to the cable news that many of us have already abandoned, We the People of the United States are deeply divided, and somehow this explains and excuses our elected officials of their embarrassing, fanatically partisan behavior. However, the contrivances of newstainment are no justification for bad behavior, behavior that serves the self-interest of those in Power, not the People. Stewart knew this and spoke to and for those who were tired of the noise that drowned out decency. At the close of “The Rally to Restore Sanity” Stewart reminded us, “we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together.” And so a month ago today, a petition asking for Jon Stewart to be given the opportunity to host a presidential debate, if he would have it, was put into the world from a couch in New Jersey. The initial response was slow but steady, but I considered this a good pace for a decision that could be finalized as late as a year from now. Then the most 21st century day of my life occurred: the petition exploded in signatures thanks to the media’s 36-hour viral affair with the idea. I am truly thankful to the 321,317 people who have added their name in support for this idea, but today I write you to remind you, “if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together.” Signing this petition alone will not bring us any closer to the type of dialogue we all yearn for in this presidential election cycle and beyond. Please remember the excitement and enthusiasm you first had for this petition when you signed and reflect on why exactly this idea felt so right to you. Please have this conversation with those around you and learn from each other. And if they feel similarly, please encourage them to sign the petition as well. If we work as a team we have the potential to bring this petition to a half million within days. We all love Jon here, but I guarantee that love alone is not why you signed. And if we work as a team, this petition can come to mean more than what it is asking for. Happy Labor Day to you all, the holiday that reminds us what the People can do when they work together. Sincerely, Mariel