AUSTIN — Wednesday evening’s town hall meeting, hosted by First District Rep. Jim Hagedorn, was a small microcosm of the bigger reality plaguing American politics in this new era.

Almost from the beginning the meeting quickly descended from an orderly discussion to yelling, interruption and often time mockery from both sides. This needs to change.

To begin with, however; we would like to commend Hagedorn for holding these town hall meetings. This is the second time he’s come to Austin to listen to and answer questions from constituents in the First District and it’s an important part of the process