The Fourth of July in Wisconsin is an apt place to take the pulse of a parched, divided nation. This heartland state is also reeling from a failed effort to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

But for the day that Yankee Doodle Dandy was born, the bitter draught of politics was suspended. The 102-degree sun beat down hotter than anyone remembered at the village parade. The simple pleasure of water never tasted so good.

Looking back to July 4 in Gettysburg, Pa., 1863, sunrise saw a Union victory and a smoldering vision of hell. Carnage and cannons were strewn everywhere, from the Peach Orchard to the "Devils Den." A clump of trees marks the place where the foolhardy Pickett's Charge closed the tragic theater of war.

The midway battle of the Civil War, Gettysburg dealt a blow to Gen. Robert E. Lee. Union Gen. George Meade won the clash that broke out as the two armies encountered each other in the rural heart of Pennsylvania

Military historians say that after Gettysburg, the South could not have won the Civil War, but the North could have lost it.

That's a fair way to summarize the stakes for President Barack Obama as he runs for re-election against Mitt Romney. His presidency's Gettysburg was health care reform.

Obama just won a close call when the Supreme Court upheld the landmark law. Strategically, he should press ahead in toss-up states like Ohio and Virginia. This is no time to be timid, but a time to embrace winning a frontier of social justice.

In Madison, the state capital city, the battle-hardened electorate will watch the candidates closely. It appears Obama's state to lose, according to polls. But Wisconsin may be the new Ohio — the state both sides must win to win.

In every Fourth of July particular, from the village dance to the rides for children on the Roaring '20s vintage fire engine, life is good in Madison's landscaped village of Shorewood Hills. The village looks like a patch of Americana — and it is.

But trouble haunts this paradise, too. In this university town, students went electric for Obama in 2008. Now, concerns about student tuition and loan interest rates are the talk of the town. Public unions yelped when Walker stripped away collective bargaining, creating more middle-class anxiety.

Public infrastructure-building took a hit when Walker refused funding for a high-speed rail link between Madison and Milwaukee. No thank you note, either — just one more way to disrespect the federal government and, of course, Obama. Sometimes it seems the reason the Civil War was fought — to keep the many as one — is lost.

Since 2010, Wisconsin has become a battleground for the war on women. Planned Parenthood health clinics are under siege. In this political climate, when it shines, it burns.

Speaking of which, after a scorching Independence Day, perhaps we can all agree global warming is here to stay unless we act soon.

In the northern reaches of Madison, there are blue flowery reminders of the Civil War: the wild chicory that Confederate soldier prisoners of war received from mothers and sweethearts in letters from home. The bittersweet chicory was for coffee and homesickness.

All those young men who fought for the Union at Gettysburg didn't shed blood for our Fourth of July frolicks and fireworks. They fought to end slavery and keep us indivisible. The fact that every old Confederate state is Republican red shows there are still seething lines drawn and battles in the weeks ahead. But let's keep it civil.

To find out more about Jamie Stiehm, and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.