Town hall meetings -- real or fake?

"Open Source," a new column in the weekly Monitor beginning with the Sept. 6 issue, looks at town meetings. Members of Congress, the President, and business people everywhere hold them. Some generate genuine give-and-take. Some feature TV-ready confrontation. And many are pre-cooked or otherwise constructed to discourage true dialog. What do you think about town-hall meetings? Have you been to a real, New England town meeting? Are these useful ways of understanding what "we the people" are thinking? Let us know in the comments section below.