Holding the Elected Responsible

One of the ideas brought about during the discussion period of Friday's class was that the elected officials are responsible for writing legislature. While the discussion over this may have been back and forth it was conducted in a mature, peaceful, and respectable way. I do believe that such conversations as we had in class are important and also that they are necessary and hopefully we all continue such dialogue outside of this class and express our opinions in the political realm. I think the public should have the ability to hold the elected accountable with open forums and "town hall" meetings. That being said, recent actions by people attending such meetings are a detriment to such open debates.
Janet Adamy, in an article in The Wall Street Journal, writes on how many Representatives have been canceling these open forums due to an increased out pour of temperamental concerned citizens who have been shouting and causing "near-riots" with the objective of demanding answers from this elected officials. While I don't believe that this forums should be canceled, I understand the concern that these Representatives have for order and their safety. Most of these actions are people upset with Democrats over the national health-care issue. Some Republicans such as Rick Scott, leader of Conservatives for Patients' Rights, think that these actions are just concerned citizens who are just "expressing themselves." It is good that these people feel that they have the right to get answers from the elected, they do. The problem is the way they are doing it. Rep. Tim Bishop (D., NY) was continually interrupted while trying to answer questions by people demanding that he "Answer the question!" Adamy writes, "At one point Mr. Bishop yelled back ' I'm trying to!'" This was in response to the "answer the question" demands.
While I understand that the public needs to be heard, there still needs to be an order to things. People need to keep their composure over these issues even when they hit close to home. There are no simple solutions to these issues and sometimes citizens need to see that their view is biased. Lawmakers, however, need to listen to the people about their concerns and make informed decisions based on the public sentiment, but that can't not be heard with people yelling and definitely isn't heard with out public forums.
(Adamy, Janet. "Lawmakers Rethink Town Halls." The Wall Street Journal 8 Aug. 2009, Weekend ed., sec. A: A5. Print.)