Midwest Memo
The invitation
by Alan Shultz

We received several holiday party invitations for this year's 4th of July celebration. I was going to refer to it as an "observance" but clearly the 4th is a unique U.S. holiday - a kick-up your heels and make a lot of noise kind of event. It's truly a celebration. And it's a celebration you can't scoot around on the calendar to get a three-day weekend bonus. The exact day matters, it's the 4th for goodness sake, and that's how it has got to be.

One common thread in a 4th of July celebration is the red, white and blue color theme that repeats itself from napkins to crepe paper and from frosting to party favors. Those three colors layered together create a visual portrayal of freedom that requires no narrative. More U.S. flags pop up on the 4th than on any other holiday I can recall. Folks fly the flag and carry it and raise their right hand in a pledge to it. Music fills the air on the 4th and that music is wonderfully predictable, it's both rousing and reflective - enough to get the blood pumping and maybe raise a goose bump or two.

On the 4th of July we get invited to parties and picnics and public events.

On the 4th of July we get invited to fly the flag, sing the National Anthem and mimic the rockets red glare with all kinds of noisemakers and sky illuminators. We light the night sky with a bit of manmade wonder to let the world see and know our passion for liberty.

The celebration of the 4th of July affords us the opportunity to roll out with dignity and pride the history and the cost of the fight for liberty for us to collectively reflect upon. At the same time the country gets to throw a big old raucous party to celebrate freedom. This invitation is extended to all and it invites us to reflect on what all this liberty means.

So I've set a visual scene with picnic table of red, white and blue, with potato salad and hot dogs on the grill. I've given the kids sparklers and raised Old Glory and put the Star Spangled Banner on the old Victrola on the front porch. Well this is where you should be hearing the needle of the record player pulled back the wrong way against the grain of the record.

If you follow the national news you have to wonder what's gone wrong with our idea of freedom for our fellow man. From where I sit we seem to have evolved into an awfully judgmental lot with a penchant for punishment.

We build prisons, lots of them, big ones. We build prisons in cities and counties and states. Incarceration is a big business growth industry in the U.S. We find folks guilty of all kinds of things, send them off to these prisons and then don't report much about the goings on inside. This is an unpleasant topic. These people must be bad. And the number of those behind bars keeps growing. In general, the idea of rehabilitation is strictly a lip service topic. That leaves punishment as the only obvious motive.

Well if you want to lose some valuable sleep, review in detail the facts of the prosecution of the Duke University lacrosse players. This is justice really gone bad. Bad enough that the prosecutor was disbarred. Now change the facts of that case a little. Remove the scrutiny of the media, take away the wealth that paid the legal defense of the players and wonder what "justice" would have been rendered.

Mandatory sentencing has not worked in our legal system. The war on drugs was lost so long ago we forgot to even consider an alternative. We criminalize more activity, we imprison and punish more folks.

This 4th of July comes with an invitation to celebrate and to reflect on freedom and liberty. Perhaps it presents the opportunity to reflect on those instances when freedom and liberty are denied right here on U.S. soil. It's an uncomfortable subject, sure, absolutely, but one worthy of consideration even as we light the night sky in celebration of liberty.