In a recent meeting with Haywood County seniors, U.S. Congressional candidates Mark Meadows and Hayden Rogers staked out starkly different positions to how they would solve problems facing the nation.

When asked about the most critical problem facing the nation, Rogers, a Democrat and the former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, said it was an ineffective Congress. He stressed his willingness to reach out across party lines to hammer out the hard solutions to the nation’s pressing problems.

Meadows, a Republican, vowed to take a business approach to government by working for a sound fiscal plan that would keep commitments made in the past,  keep the economy growing and put the nation on the right track.

Current members of Congress have “not had the courage to stand up and do what ...