This page was last updated on October 2, 2017.
We need to put country before party; Steven J. Kochanowski; Beaver County Times; September 24, 2017.
At the time of his previous letter, Mr. Kochanowski (SJK) was a Beaver County rep on the PA Democratic State Committee, but allegedly has since registered as a Republican. According to a Tribune-Review story in 2012,
“‘The Democratic Party was no longer the party I grew up in. It was not the party of Bill Clinton; it was not the party of John F. Kennedy,’ said Steven Kochanowski, 28, of Potter in Beaver County.
“Kochanowski switched his registration from Democrat to Republican in March, contributing to the county’s 2.4 percent increase in GOP voters. He said the Democratic Party ‘pulls too far to the left’ for him, on issues including health care, gay marriage, abortion and gun control.”
The only previous SJK letter I reviewed was “Altmire is best for the region.”
Below is a review of the subject letter.
“I’m in my early 30s and have been involved in politics for 17 years. For the first time in long time, I feel lost in this strange new political world.
“I have always tried to take the statesmen approach to things. Now I’m living in a world of extremists who I truly don’t understand.
“I support elected officials crossing over the aisle to support ideas that work for all Americans. That’s what great leaders have done. In the last 10 years in my county and state, I’ve watched us go from good moderate leaders like Jason Altmire and Arlen Specter to extremists like Keith Rothfus and Mike Turzai. We are not looking at history anymore, we are repeating it over again.”
[RWC] What makes Rep. Rothfus (R-PA12) an “extremist?”
“We don’t admire leaders like JFK or Ronald Reagan. Instead we admire Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz. We have very few leaders currently like Joe Manchin or John Kasich. These people at times are called traitors to their own parties. We need to stop pandering to the extremists on both sides. We need to start electing moderates who put people before politics, country before party.”
[RWC] What makes Sen. Cruz (R-TX) an “extremist.”
SJK thinks President Reagan (R) was a “moderate?”
“I am a proud Blue Dog Democrat slowly being choked out by the extremes of both parties. I will never apologize for being a Christian or a proud American.”
[RWC] “Blue Dog Democrats” claim to be fiscally conservative and socially centrist/conservative. If that’s true, why are they Democrats?
“Now in many ways we are all about political division. Many could care less about their neighbors or communities. We are afraid to work with other world leaders and we are no longer the leaders of the free world.”
[RWC] I think SJK meant “couldn’t care less…”
© 2004-2017 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.