Looking for a sure-fire vocation: Go into health care.

The Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) is scheduled to expand Medicaid to millions of now-uninsured Americans by 2014. Thousands of additional physicians will be needed to give them care. Even if that program is repealed, the aging of the baby boomers will increase the Medicare population and also put pressure on health care providers.

The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that in 2015 the country will have 62,900 fewer doctors than needed and that number will more than double by 2025.

Even without the health care law, experts estimate that the shortage of doctors in 2025 would still exceed 100,000.

Considering that it takes about 10 years to train a physician, that 2025 need should be addressed now.

Part of the need can be met by expanding the use of nurse clinicians, who can be trained more quickly. Having physicians and nurse clinicians work in teams can increase efficiency in clinics and provide more primary care to more people at a lower cost.

The U.S. shortage of physicians is now being lessened by welcoming well-trained physicians from other nations as immigrants. India and other Asian nations have educated many physicians and medical technicians who are now working in the U.S., where they earn much more than they could in their native lands.

But the best way to meet our nation’s need for additional physicians, nurse clinicians and other health care specialists is by increasing the number who can be trained in U.S. medical schools — and by encouraging U.S. high school students to set their sights on medical careers.

— Emerson Lynn, jr.

Dick Cheney’s heart transplant perked him up enough to push him into the presidential race. President Obama was, he told a newsman, a “weak president.” Weak, he explained, because he is pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“We shouldn’t be turning our backs on our friends in that region,” said the former vice president.

Mr. Cheney can take a lot of the credit for the fact that the United States went to war with Iraq in the first place. Goodness knows how wide that war would have grown if fate had made him president. Cheney surely will go down in history as the most bellicose V.P. of them all.

The United States has had troops in Afghanistan since October 2001. Cheney appears to advocate a permanent occupation. As to exactly which “friends” in that benighted land would join him in that recommendation, he is silent. Sure, there are Afghans addicted to U.S. billions — but very few who want an occupying army to stay indefinitely to oversee their daily lives. That goes double for the Iraq people.

President Obama’s decision to announce far in advance when he would pull out the last combat troops can be criticized as poor tactics. But ending those wars and bringing the troops home deserves the applause it has won throughout the nation and from our allies. 

Mr. Cheney couldn’t have found a way to give the Obama campaign a bigger boost.

— Emerson Lynn, jr.

Dear editor,

I am writing this letter in support of Ed Bideau for the Kansas House of Representatives in the 9th District.

I have known Ed since he was 15. We lived behind the Bideau family for 26 years. I have observed Ed’s walk through life and the many endeavors that he encountered. One of his first, was an attempt to form a neighborhood band. Ed continued his love of music. He now plays with a local Dixieland band. Ed didn’t give up on music and he won’t give up on the needs of the 9th District.

After high school Ed enrolled in college and pursued a law degree. While in college Ed worked in the state Insurance Commission, where he gained insight of the insurance business.

Ed returned to Chanute in 1974 and was employed by Neosho County as assistant county attorney. Ed worked under Raymond Radford, a retired FBI agent. Ray Radford was a great mentor for Ed.

Ed being a team leader shared this new information with the law enforcement personnel. This brought our win ratio in court cases to a higher level. Ed worked daily with the Chanute P.D. and Neosho County sheriff’s office. Many times he had contact with Wilson, Allen, and Labette counties when a series of crimes were similar. Teamwork was Ed’s favorite word and will continue to be in the 9th District.

Ed’s mother, Beverly Bideau, was a school teacher and Margaret, Ed’s wife, still teaches. Ed has knowledge of the school system and how difficult funding is to obtain at the state level. Education is instilled in the Bideau family.

Ed was elected to two terms in the House of Representatives. He served this district with the interest of all the people and he will do so again with integrity and honest answers. Ed supports our Second Amendment and I do. He is a life member of the NRA.

There are occasions when Ed and I have lunch together. We discus family, work projects, world problems, sometimes politics. It appears to me that Ed is extremely aware of all things surrounding him directly or indirectly. His interests seem unlimited.

Ed will keep us informed on matters that may affect our district good or bad. Because of Ed’s excellent record, join with me and vote for Ed Bideau on Aug. 7.

Tom McLaren,

Chanute, Kan.

Dear editor,

It seems our governmental structure, our country, is at a crossroads. A huge and critical choice to be made by us the voters, we the people. Much of the mess we find ourselves in is of our own making. Complacency, I suppose, has caused many of us to work along or ride along  while, little by little, the basic structure of our lives has been eroded by rampant regulation, out of control government spending and good ole boy cliques. To right our course will require people of integrity and strong moral character. 

I’ve spent most of my life conducting small business in southeast Kansas. Hard work, honesty, trustworthiness and appreciation of the people I serve are the values I learned young. These values I learned right along side Ed Bideau. 

As young kids in the same neighborhood we learned basic lessons from the same adults. The importance of family, encouraging “choice” to be in favor of life. The strength to stand on principles of honesty and truth even when it’s not popular. Working and playing on the Bideau farm we learned to respect nature and the land. Being shown the difference in giving a hand up vs. a hand out, we learned that work resulted in reward.

Sound and conservative economic behavior and belief in personal responsibility. These are values I know we can count on Ed Bideau to display. I say I know this because I’ve  grown up with him. I’ve seen the way he deals with problems and big decisions. I know he can be counted on. A man of his word. We need him as representative for southeast Kansas in Topeka.

Chuck Chandler 

Chanute, Kan.

The primary election next week is an important one for Republicans in Kansas. If far-right Republicans win those nominations, they also are likely to dominate the Legislature — Kansas has never been so solidly Republican as it is in 2012. 

The consequence will be further cuts in spending for education, highways, law enforcement, care of the disabled and health care and other essential state services.

Radical Republican domination of the Legislature will also result in continued tax cuts for the wealthy and raise the very real possibility of tax increases for the poor and middle class when this year’s huge tax cuts take hold in 2014.

This destruction can be avoided by awarding the nominations to mainstream Republicans who use as their models moderates such as Nancy Kassebaum (the most popular Republican ever to serve in a Kansas U.S. Senate seat); former two-term governor Bill Graves, who just came back to Kansas to campaign for embattled Republican moderates; and Bob Dole, who established himself as a national leader, was the author of the Americans With Disabilities Act and pushed one of the largest tax increases in U.S. history through Congress under President Ronald Reagan.

ALLEN COUNTY voters can do their part by voting for John Coen for Senate. Coen campaigns on a promise to restore funding for the public schools and the state’s universities and cites the policies of Kassebaum and Dole as examples he would follow if elected.

Coen recognizes that funding the public schools, community colleges, state universities and helping to fund the state’s private colleges is far and away the most important function of state government. Together, those line items make up about 70 percent of the state’s annual budget. Add highways, health care and law enforcement and all that’s left is petty cash.

While they never say so, those who campaign on promises to “bring fiscal responsibility and budget discipline” to state government, really mean they will continue to beggar education, continue to funnel highway fund money to the general fund to justify tax cuts and will, in short, make Kansas unable to meet its basic obligations to its citizens.

It is mathematically impossible to cut taxes by $2.7 billion — as the radical tax cut bill passed this year does — without leaving the public schools, community colleges and state universities in ruins.

Because the Kansas economy has strengthened — and state support for education has been slashed — the 2013 Legislature will enjoy a large  budget surplus. It should use most of that surplus to restore funding for the schools and higher education and to return the money to the Kansas Department of Transportation that it took over the past three years so that the state’s highways can be well maintained. Step two should be to repeal some of the tax cuts that were so foolishly made earlier this year so that budgets can be balanced from 2014 forward without reducing Kansas education to Third World standards.

Who should you vote for in the House contest? Find out which of the three will vote for more money for education. Demand a yes or no answer. If none will say yes, then try to divine which of them has shown the most compassion for their fellow creatures in their day jobs and give your vote to that man — or that woman.

Come to think of it, that’s a pretty good yardstick to use in measuring candidates in any race, from local on up to the White House.

— Emerson Lynn, jr.