Congress, hold town halls and listen

Townhall meetings aren’t supposed to be campaign rallies. They’re supposed to give citizens the chance to engage their elected leaders, face to face.

And with revolutionary change on tap in Washington, people across the country want to be heard.

Yet some members of Congress, particularlyRepublicans, are cancelling town hall meetings to avoid uncomfortable exchanges with peopleworried about the demise of Obamacare and immigration round-ups.

The shoewas on the other foot eight years ago, after the election of former President Obama. Then, Democrats similarly faced townhall meetings full of people angry about health care reform and the lax enforcement of immigration laws.

Those tumultuous townhalls gave rise to the tea partymovement. It remains to be seen if today’s protests give rise to another populistwave. But clearly, someRepublican members of Congress are troubled by events close to home.

In the last month, angry constituents have confronted lawmakers at a slew of townhall meetings, including those of Gus Bilirakis of PalmHarbor, Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Diane Black ofTennessee.

In Alabama, CongressmanMo Brooks canceled the “Mo BrooksTownHall” after realizing Democrats planned to attend. His office said the event was meant to be a “private” address to a tea party group, not a “public townhall.” Brooks addressed the tea party group anyway, and alert Democrats showed up and recorded his message on Facebook. They observed Brooks calling Democrats racists who incite violence.

InTennessee, Rep. Marsha Blackburn removed a citywebsite listing for a “townhall” meeting thisweek. Her spokeswoman told CNNthe meetingwould still take place, but the listingwas removed because it “placed too much emphasis on townhall.”

InNewYork, Rep. Lee Zeldin canceled a townhall scheduled forApril. Aspokeswoman said the eventwas “co-opted, renamed and rebranded by a group of liberal obstructionists.”

In Arkansas, Sen. TomCotton’s staff reportedly shut off their phones and locked the office doors, telling a small group of constituents through an intercom that the senatorwasn’t taking meetings with the public.

InVirginia, Rep. Barbara Comstock invited the public to “mobile office hours” at two grocery stores, but when a crowd showed up, she didn’t.

Also inVirginia, Rep. Dave Brat made clear hewould hold no more town halls until “our first 100 days agenda is implemented andwe come up for a breath of air.” In otherwords, Bratwants to vote before listening to constituents.

These are turbulent times and citizens want to be heard. Yes, there’s danger for politicians thatmayhem will erupt at town hall meetings and the video will go viral.

But there’s also a chance to showleadership, to offer insight and to explain alternatives. Almost every issue is more complicated than most people think. Real statesmen and stateswomen should take the chance to inform, listen and consider.

While many of today’s attendees are worried about health care, itwas a conservativeRepublican who disrupted the recent townhall meeting ofRepublican Gus Bilirakis of Pasco County, which is just north of Tampa.

As people expressed concern about the loss of Obamacare, Bill Akins— secretary of the county’sRepublican Executive Committee— began shouting long-debunked claims that theAffordable CareAct had created death panels.

The videowent viral andAkins resigned his post after TheWashington Post revealed his Facebook posts contained racist and fake news stories.

Politics is personal, messy and sometimes loud. It takes thick skin to stand before a group of people who disagree with you. And shame on people who scream obscenities or threaten violence. If they can’t followreasonable ground rules, it’s understandable why a politicianwould bring the forum to a close.

That said, GroundRuleNo. 1 is to convene these forums in the first place.