by Erica Michaelson

Created on: August 23, 2009   Last Updated: August 31, 2009

Town Hall meetings are the quintessential essence of true American freedom! Since the early days of America, citizens have not only recognized their power, they also actively exercise that strength. It is the authority of a free people! Town hall meetings give people a chance to face the leaders they elect, and permit voters a place to express concerns that are essential.

Recently, town hall meetings have a new found resurgence in America. During the 2008 Presidential elections, the two major parties, both Democrats and Republicans, utilized the town hall meeting format in which to do their campaigning. Both parties had success, drawing large numbers of people that enjoyed opportunities to ask questions of the candidates, and interact with them.

This method seems very useful in a time where the medias are overwhelmed with partisan driven messages, and pundits that are not objective. This forum give Americans opportunity to look a candidate in the eye, or as close as they can get, and ask the questions themselves. This offers people the ability to actually get sound of reason into the fray, supersede the medias slanted view, and decipher all the mumbo jumbo.

The most recent town hall meetings concern health care in America. Americans are skittish to the proposed government proposals for fixing of the health care system. Unable to get reasonable and correct information, despite the abundant flow of information on television, radio, newspapers, and of course the internet, Americans are flocking to town hall meetings, hoping to get straight answers, and to voice their opposition or support, to the plan.

Interestingly though, some of the politicians responses to their own continuants criticisms are surprisingly rude and condescending, and the media coverage of these events is utterly bizarre! The focus seems to be have more to do with demeanor and sanity of the citizens, rather than scrutiny focused on those that serve us, or on health care issues, and the plan the government wants to implement to resolve them. What it appears to be is a concerted effort by some politicians, journalists, and media outlets to challenge Americans right to assemble and exercise free speech, with intimidation tactics, which undermine valid critique, and in some cases, even mock, or put into question the sanity of dissenters. This tactic is not serving the media as they might have intended. Instead, Americans seemingly appear more angry, and ever more determined to be heard by the people that represent them.

Thomas Jefferson once said; An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which has never yet existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations down to a town meeting.

This is what town hall meetings were intended to provide. A forum to peacefully assemble, to include discussion, healthy debate, and even disagree! Problems with the media are nothing new, they even had issues with the media in the days of Jefferson, for he also said, ....Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.....Thomas Jefferson would be proud to see that the forum of the town hall meeting, is still an effective a tool for Americans today,as it was back at the founding of our country, and that Americans are still flexing their constitutional freedoms.

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