Let me see if I understand the thesis of Sunday's editorial by Patrick Lowry. A man whose core values are conservative runs for Congress and campaigns on those values. He gets elected (with 74 percent of the votes in 2010) and surprisingly votes consistent with those values and campaign promises. How refreshing.

Because he is a realist and honestly believes the federal government cannot be sustained with its tax-and-spend, full-speed-ahead march toward socialism, Tim Huelskamp finds himself out of step with the Washington establishment. And Lowry concludes Congressman Huelskamp is an embarrassment to Kansas. Why even elect a Kansas congressional representative? For efficiency, let's just ask John Boehner to vote twice, once for Ohio and once for Kansas.

Apparently, Lowry would have us avoid embarrassment by raising the debt ceiling ad infinitum and printing more money in perpetuity. I can think of people who truly are an embarrassment to their office or their profession, but it is not Tim Huelskamp.

Pat Coyne,

Hays