As a leader, I am led by my conscience. That means I am only loyal to party leadership when my conscience is aligned with their motives, methods, and goals. The same is true of my relationship to my constituents. I will always aim to represent the best interests of my constituents, but never in violation of my conscience.

My concern about the compromises of Washington is that our representatives are compromised precisely on this point. They are no longer led by conscience, but instead by political expediency. This may sound irrelevant, but I assure you it is not. How else could the decisions made in Washington over recent years be justifiable, except by a compromise of conscience?

You can measure this compromise in the debt load we are passing on to the next generation, in the lack of true education taking place in our classrooms, the refusal of our leaders to slow down the legislative process for time to read a bill before they vote on it, the unwillingness to protect the sanctity of life from the womb to our inner city streets--the list of failings goes on and on.

There is an important implication here. President Obama ran on a post-partisan platform, but for all the flowery rhetoric and media protection, his decisions have been anything but representative of the broad interests of all Americans. Do we really want the State being the largest player in the financial system, in the automotive industry, and in our healthcare system? People on the political left and right should agree--on the basis of conscience--that the larger the State grows, the more it will depend on taxing we the people to pay for its role.

If there is ever to be a truly United States again, we must find common ground on the basis of conscience. As a leader, I make it a top priority to listen to people with different political views on the issues who, like me, are following the dictates of conscience. The great breakthrough we need--the true post-partisan vision our President has yet to live up to--will occur as the grassroots of America comes together in respect for the freedom of conscience of even our political enemies.

So, though I am a Republican candidate for Congress, I am first and foremost a leader who wants to represent Democrats, Independents, and Republicans fully. That means I want to hear from you, and I want to create a dialog in this campaign that brings all people of conscience together to wrestle with the hard issues we face. Will you join me in this breakthrough of political communication? Please send me and my campaign an email at opinions [at] jimtrautz [dot] com. We will get back to you and include your voice in our dialog with others from across the political landscape who want to truly shape the direction of our representative democracy through today's turbulent waters.