American town halls more contentious than ever, in part by design

Greenland, N.H. — This is the pitiful state of the American town hall meeting: Even the people who invented it can’t make it work anymore.

“ORDAH!” In the Greenland town hall, a man was yelling at Rep. Frank C. Guinta (R-N.H.) for splurging on glossy paper for his office mailings, while another constituent was trying to interrupt, shouting aimlessly: “Our nation is about to go into crisis.”