I’ve been around more years than I want to admit, and like everyone else, I would call this the craziest political season I’ve ever seen. It starts at the top with a Republican presidential candidate who has no government experience and is given to, ahem, impulsive comments, and a Democratic presidential candidate with no accomplishments and an amazing record of lying to the American people.

U.S. House of Representatives candidate Roger Marshall’s behavior may be craziest of all, though. With his oh-too-clever “Washing-Tim” slur for Congressman Tim Huelskamp and various other bogus assertions, Marshall is trying to portray his opponent as a Washington insider. Republican primary voters are not that stupid. This strategy is so absurd that it, alone, disqualifies Marshall from serious consideration.

Huelskamp is the very epitome of the Washington outsider. He is one of the very few in Washington who understands that our $19-trillion federal debt is the greatest threat to our future as a nation. We are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and once that happens, everything else collapses. Our president does not understand, or certainly won’t admit, this reality. In nearly eight years, not only has Obama done nothing about the federal debt, he does not even mention it. Of the 535 members of Congress, Huelskamp is one of only a handful who recognize the threat our national debt poses, and he acts accordingly with his vote. No wonder he is unpopular among his colleagues and therefore an outsider. You could count on both hands the number of Representatives and Senators who act with fiscal responsibility, and you would not need either thumb.

If you want to be represented by one more lemming marching toward the abyss, vote for Marshall. If you want to be represented by a realist who knows the emperor has no clothes and is not afraid to say so, re-elect Congressman Tim Huelskamp.

Kent Steward
Hays