Congress has become unresponsive to the basic concerns of the people. Unabated unemployment, soaring mortgage rates, and increased bureaucracy threaten average Americans. North Carolina needs more than just a representative. It needs an advocate.

Central Carolina knows so well that our trade policies have been destructive. Assigning most favored nation trading status to communist China has led to not free trade, but sucker trade. Executives simply moved production overseas where a captive population manufactures inferior goods.

The federal government is spending close to $1.5 trillion more than it is receiving in revenue. We all know this isn't sustainable. Some want to raise taxes or cut Social Security and Medicare for those dependent on these programs. Those proposals are not solutions. We must pass legislation that forces a balanced budget and revise the tax code to make it simpler and lower for the hardest working Americans.

The recent bailouts for some of the largest corporations in the country represent a clarion call that too much power and money has concentrated in Washington. We need to cut through purposeless bureaucracy so that we can again be a nation of enterprising, upstanding free people. Trying to repeal code line by line is daunting, so my position on limited government is simple.

We are all concerned about the cost of health care and the future of its quality. Premium increases and loss of coverage are devastating to families already suffering from a serious economic downturn. We know that it is time for real reform.

The defining social justice issue of our time is the sanctity of life and how we as a country respect it. If we fail to defend the gift of life, we necessarily will not thrive.

Despite the promise that bailout proceeds would ensure reasonable lending and refinance options, nearly two years after the Credit Crisis there is no policy to address the underlying problem: distressed mortgages.