I am 68 yeas old and have been on Medicare for about three years.      Here are three questions for my fellow seniors citizens?

          Are you dissatisfied with Medicare?

Have you had issues with the service or convenience when using federal Medicare?

Are you interested or willing to give up your Medicare in order to sign back up with a private, for profit provider?

My answer to all three questions is a resounding NO!

Medicare actually has been a pleasant surprise. Most of you know my healthcare needs have been significant the past few years and Medicare has been really good in terms of coverage, usability and convenience. No problem with obtaining care, selecting doctors or anything.

So, you may understand my concern when my Governor and the legislature he controls have decided Kansas seniors would be better off without Medicare.

          Governor Brownback’s plan is for Kansas to be in a compact of states where Medicare becomes a state block grant style program run by private, for-profit companies.

          The U.S. Senate will need to agree for this to happen, but the Governor is clearly on a mission.

Medicare is one federal program that works well plus Kansas has a horrible record for taking over federal programs. Take Medicaid for example. The three private companies trying to run KanCare are struggling having lost $110,000 million last year and another $72.6 million so far this year!

          So, Kansas Seniors if you like me are happy with your Medicare the best way to protect yourself is to let Governor Brownback and his buddy Representative Huelskamp know – our Medicare is not broken!

          Seems to me the best way to insure Kansas doesn’t drop out of the Federal Medicare program is to get rid of the people who think it needs to be fixed. Ask every candidates where they stand on this question before you vote.

          Election Day is November fourth. Please take time to register and vote.

          I’m Steve Sauder

I just called him “Calhoun.” We met through friend Jeff Hawes when we were all at Wentworth Military Academy Summer Camp when I was ten years old.

William Kenneth Calhoun III died this past Friday at home in Lawrence. He was 71.

          On KVOE News over the weekend I called him an “icon” in Emporia for my generation. Calhoun was involved in more things outside his field of endeavor than anyone I know.

          As the news of his death started to sink in it hit me that while we had allowed Calhoun to fix many things locally we had made a big mistake. We should have forced Kenny Calhoun to Topeka or even Washington because of his unique ability to force budget considerations and planning.

          Early work for Calhoun was at Newman’s Department Store the family business on Commercial Street. He kept it afloat for a long time through rough times for retailers and finally gracefully closed it out.

          While a Commercial Street merchant Calhoun led almost single-handedly the project to revitalize downtown Emporia. Our downtown street design was Ken’s and he was the ringleader in getting rid of parking meters and building parking lots.

          They called Calhoun the “Mayor” at Lake Kahola. The lake was special to the Calhoun’s and Ken kept his finger in Kahola business right up through the sale from Emporia to the leaseholders.

          Calhoun was president of the Emporia Country Club 3 times – 1974, 1998, and 2012. Guess what – he wasn’t president because things were rosy. Again he was a fixer helping find ways to keep the club open.

          Calhoun attended Culver Military School in Mexico, Missouri and later Kansas University and loved his reunions and old classmates.

          Calhoun was a KU fan and Lady Hornet Basketball supporter.

          Before moving to Lawrence three years ago Ken managed the Emporia Community Foundation for 12 years of magnificent growth.

          Calhoun loved Emporia but moved to Lawrence to finish his life and find some new challenges. His wife Judy told me at the time of Calhoun’s death he was chairing a finance committee and because it was budget time and he was so excited.

          Seems to me what I need to do now is warn St. Peter about Calhoun. Ol’ Pete better have his heaven’s Mission Statement up to date, goals set and budget balanced because Kenny Calhoun will soon be looking over his shoulder!

          RIP Ken, you were one of a kind.

          I’m Steve Sauder

          Hillary Clinton got called out during Sunday night’s debate for having both a public and private view on a topic. She responded saying she was using Abe Lincoln as her example.

          This of course set Donald Trump in motion suggesting Mrs. Clinton was no Abe Lincoln especially when it comes to honesty.

          Monday Trump had Face Book posts showing Lincoln’s picture with “Honest” flashing under it and Clinton’s picture with “Liar” flashing under it!

          Nick Fouriezos known as Ozy on Face Book shared historical information that might make Trump slow down trying to associate himself with Honest Abe!

          Ozy said “Midway through the 19^th century, the country surged with a new political force. Mostly made up of white Protestant working and middle class voters, this emerging bloc despised the elites, whom they felt had rigged the system. They blamed the influx of migrants – namely Irish Catholics fleeing the potato famine – for a diversifying the nation… they began as state groups loosely affiliated by one universal nickname: the Know Nothings.”

Mark Sill from Trinity University said, “They easily could have said ‘Make America Great Again.’”

At one point the Know-Nothings held 8 governorships and had over 100 members in congress. They eventually re-named themselves the American Party. They were described as a “hodgepodge of conservatives united by anti-immigrant, anti Catholic and interestingly anti-slavery views. They believed Catholics could not be trusted – closely paralleling today’s Trumpian view on Muslims.

So now if Trump is planning to continue claiming Honest Abe Lincoln as an ally he’d better bone up on his history.

Here’s what Abraham Lincoln wrote to his lifelong friend Joshua Speed about the Trumpism of the 1800s: “Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.’ ”

Heaven, please help us!

Post script. If you’d like to read a really well written piece on the state of our democracy by David Brooks called “The Governing Cancer of Our Time” go to kvoe.com and type “Brooks” into the search bar and the article should pop up. That’s b-r-o-o-k-s.

I’m Steve Sauder

          Saturday my brother Mike was here for the 1967 Emporia High School Class Reunion so he attended the ESU game with us. At halftime our Congressman Roger Marshall was there and I introduced Mike.

          Later Mike asks me if that’s the same person I had asked a while back how often he talked with Democrats in his position in Congress.

          His answer then was – “not that often.”

          Obviously the point of my question  - how often do you talk with Democrats - was to see if there was much if any bipartisan contact in Washington.

          The very obvious conclusion to that question and Congressman Marshall’s answer of “not that often,” indicates the potential for any solutions to the major problems facing our country are slim.

          The problem is the Republicans have at least one answer for each question and maybe more while the Democrats either respond “NO” to anything proposed by the opposition or have different ideas altogether – and none of them seem to be talking trying to find any way to compromise.

          Currently gun control is topic number one. Health insurance or Obama-care is not far behind and of course tax policy is on the table too with infrastructure rebuilding and immigration other possible areas.  

          None of these are going to be agreed upon without some really good work across the aisle! Unfortunately there does not seem to be any Bob Dole’s or Tip O’Neill’s stepping forward.

          News from Washington is as ugly as anytime in my lifetime and of course that’s all magnified by the existence of countless so-called “news” sources.

          Term limits or extending House of Representative terms to 4 years might stop the need to start seeking re-election on the day new congressmen arrive in D.C. Who knows?

          Seems to me our best course of action in addition to prayer is to  constantly request from our representatives to work with the other side to find compromise and not be so cotton pickin’ bull headed!

          I’m Steve Sauder and “There’s something to think about.”