by Shirley Love

Created on: August 30, 2009

What could be more American than the Town Hall meetings, except for Mom's apple pie, and the 4th of July perhaps?

The town hall meetings have their roots in American history back to the days of the colonial farmer, merchant, inn keeper and their appointed leaders. They were the means for all to get together to discuss their needs and their plans of action. Each voice could be heard, each idea discussed, and the majority of the people could decide the outcome. Democracy in action!

Those meetings are still in existence today, but in a much different context. It appears in some cases, that the meetings are held in order for the elected or appointed leaders to inform the public of 'their' decisions and 'their' plans of action.

John Q. Public can voice his complaint if he disagrees, but he might be labeled as a trouble maker, a plant, or just plain red-necked ignorant. Is this their way of telling us we no longer have a voice in the making of policy in this nation?

Politicians seem to forget that they are working for us, the American people. They are 'our' employees! The only way to get rid of a bad employee is to see that they are removed from their jobs. In the case of a politician, we will have to wait until the next election.

In the meantime, those in office can pass new laws and policies even if the majority of the voters do not agree with them. This is not democracy in action by any means.

So, we vote them out four years on down the line, and hope and pray that we can find replacements who will listen to our wants and needs and act accordingly.

In the meantime, the former office-holder continues to receive his or her enormous salary with all the perks for the remainder of his/her life. How does democracy fit into that plan which, of course, was drawn by the politicians themselves.

The town hall meetings today are largely due to mass protest against Obama's proposed Health Care plan which he wants to quickly shove down the throats of the American people before it is completely understood. Even some of the elected officials admit that they do not thoroughly understand its content in full.

The conservatives on the right want more time and more explanations. They want to discuss the quality of health care that would be available to the elderly, the terminally ill, and the disabled. Are the rumors just scare tactics, or are they actually as dire as they appear?

The liberals on the left seem to think the government has the right to decide what is best for us over and

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