Congressman Bobby Bright spent some time in Crenshaw County on Thursday, holding a town hall meeting in Luverne and visiting a local logging operation and farm.

At the meeting, Bright spoke about his role in Washington politics and how the public perceives members of the different political parties.

“I hope people can see that I can be an American and not let a party or special interest dominate my votes,” he said. “Voting is just a small part of what I do.”

Bright said that a large part of his duties is staying connected to his district.

After a short introduction, Bright opened the floor to questions from the public.

Naturally, the economy was one subject brought up for discussion.

“We have to shore up the economy,” Bright said.

He also talked a bill he has sponsored requiring the government to balance the budget yearly.

“Cities have to balance the budget each year, and it’s not a bad idea,” he said. “I introduced a bill requiring states to do that.”

He also spoke about lowering our corporate tax rate, which could be an incentive to bring manufacturing back from overseas markets.

“We’ve got some things we can do to help the economy, but we’ve just got to do it,” he said. “As a country, we’ve got to control spending.”

However, Bright said that above all, the country needs to be united and not worried about political labels.

“Watch Fox News for a little bit, then watch MSNBC for a little bit,” he said. “The truth is somewhere in between. We’ve got to get beyond the democrat/republican/tea party/libertarian names. We did our best work as a country when we worked together.”