More ways to celebrate freedom

 

                The fireworks were grand, the parades were fun. And besides all that, the bike races and flag ceremonies and car shows and concerts were well attended and well received.        

All told, it was a grand party – all over Davis County – as we celebrated together, the independence we have enjoyed in the United States of America for a remarkable 239 years.

More than our country’s independence, we were celebrating the independence we have as individuals to think and say and do and believe as we choose. It’s all certainly worth a party. A big one.

I tried to cover as many events as I could last weekend, starting before 7 one morning and ending after 10 one night, and at each one came away grateful for the chance to celebrate something so significant with so many others who recognize its value as well.

Some highlights: a lieutenant colonel in full uniform saluting as a young group of inexperienced scouts posted the colors, loud applause as a truck bearing veterans who had no doubt seen difficult days went by in a parade, homemade T-shirts with various designs of stars and stripes in red, white and blue, worn by family members of all ages and sizes.

My favorite: a dad leaning over to show his young son how to put his hand on his heart when the flag of the United States went by.

But there are other events besides parades and fireworks extravaganzas that bring a sense of pride in what America stands for and other days besides July 4^th that bear testimony to the impact the decisions of those early founders have had all these many years.

These are places the crowds rarely appear – unless in anger. But they are where America’s system can be seen at its best – and sometimes worst -- and places that should be celebrated as much as any others.

It is in the city hall and the county commission chambers and the school board auditorium and the state legislature.

It is where elected officials take on the tasks of keeping the citizens who elected them safe and secure and on good roads and with good schools and with running water that’s clean enough to drink and electricity that stays on even when it’s 100 degrees outside.

I try to cover as many of these meetings as I can, for the same reasons I cover July 4^th events. They are the living proof of the freedoms of self-government. And while they aren’t always pretty, they are always somehow profound.

I was in a city hall last month where elected officials were taken to task by the people who elected them, for proposing to charge a monthly fee to improve roads. I was in a different city hall last year where citizens were angry that their city government was proposing to build a bigger and better police station. I was at the state capitol once when hundreds chanted for better air, again later when others called for more money for education, and yet again when still others called for better health care. I was in the school district auditorium when district officials laid out the need for more schools, and therefore the need for more money from the community.

These officials do not get any more money for proposing to improve conditions in their cities or for their students. They often only get angry residents. But they have seen a need and they are working to meet it.

Our founders didn’t fight taxation, they fought taxation without representation. When our representatives live among us and see our needs and try to meet them, we have the freedom to be angry and often our pleas get heard and plans get changed and other times we get outvoted and things move ahead and we benefit despite our best efforts.

It’s democracy.

We can vote. We can campaign. We can support. We can complain.

It’s freedom. It’s fireworks.

It’s America.