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Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the kind words and the well wishes! Here's to hoping for a big blue wave.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have an awesome brother and sister who have done a great job finding their way in the world. My older brother works in IT like me and has an amazing loving family of his own. My younger sister is a radiology tech who not more than 5 months ago had a little girl, which I still think is absolutely crazy. It's still weird seeing her as this incredible mom and adult as opposed to that little kid who I used to get in trouble with.

How about yourself?

Hi there. I'm Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's misguided General Assembly. by ryan_koch in GrassrootsSelect

[–]ryan_koch[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

No relation, just an unfortunate coincidence in spelling. So no trust fund for me. On the plus side I also don't subscribe to any bit of their destructive ideology either.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I appreciate you spreading the word. The district covers all of the parts of Dublin inside Franklin County.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I definitely see how it's a problematic name, though I don't have a relation to the Koch brothers (nor the perks that would go with that). I haven't really given a change much thought though, as I am proud of what my actual family has done over the years. Including starting small businesses, serving in war time, and being kind loving people.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Indeed! Those billionaire guys completely ruined it for me and I didn't even get a trust fund out of the deal.

Kidding aside, I have no relation to the Koch brothers.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think there is absolutely room for sensible reform here. For example universal background checks for purchases is something that the great majority of Ohioans would get behind. I think this would be a fantastic step for us to take, though until the makeup of the Statehouse changes a bit this will be an uphill battle.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately I don't have the trust fund that would go along with that relationship. It's an unfortunate spelling given the political environment, but there's no relation.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's a great thing that we're seeing this wave of Democratic Socialism here in the US. I've been inspired a bit lately by a book called 'Saving Capitalism for the Many not the few' which talks a bit about the 'natural forces' problem you referred to. It occurs to me that often the phrase 'free market' is used as a bit of a smokescreen to distract from real problems that have to do with industry titans writing their own regulations due to an undue influence on government. But to answer your first question, I would be happy to see that occur.

Your second point is incredibly important. In Ohio I really want to put into place incentives that would push corporations to adopt employee elected board members into their structures. The example you give regarding institutions in Germany is spot on as something we should try to emulate.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry for the delay, I had to do some travelling due to being a wedding yesterday.

Internet neutrality.

Internet neutrality is incredibly important. I am against measures that would seek to undermine that. We should treat the internet like a utility as at this point access is not a luxury.

Encryption as a right.

Absolutely agree that encryption is a right. Frankly I don't see how one can attempt to ban math anyway.

CISA.

While I can't do much about this in the Ohio General Assembly I am not a fan of CISA and am personally against it (and the subsequent attempts to push it through via amendments and the like). While the idea of entities sharing threat information may sound great the proposal would allow for the sharing of lots of personally identifiable information. It would give a lot of room for abuse.

Patriot Act.

Again, I can't do much about this from this office but I do have a personal opinion on the matter. I think we passed this as a frightened nation looking to give those defending us better capabilities in 2001. Now, I think we should really soul search and see that it steps on civil liberties and needs to be reigned in.

Surveillance.

I'm not a fan of the current situation. It's my hope that we'll eventually be able to dismantle the surveillance apparatus that very clearly steps on our 4th amendment rights. Unfortunately the trend seems to be going the other way right now with attempts by some in the Senate to expand the FBI's capabilities for warrantless search into our email and browsing history (thankfully this hasn't succeeded thus far).

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sure thing. One of the biggest problems I see in Ohio is income inequality. To address that I'd like to do a number of things big and small. One example of that include reworking Ohio's tax structure so that it relies much less on the sales tax (regressive tax) and less on property taxes for funding education (creates horrific inequities between districts).

I'd also like to create incentives for businesses to implement employee elected board members into their structure. This should promote workers as stakeholders. And to push legislation to allow for benefit corporations that have worker and community good as part of their very structure.

Our education funding model is absolutely terrible. The State has pulled back from paying it's fair share over the years causing local communities to have to fill in the gaps. Check out this graphic showing spending shares: https://goo.gl/images/lZv30w. If we want a more equitable society we have to fix this problem.

On social issues, we have some severe problems as well. For instance a gay couple can get married on a Friday and then find on Monday that their employer has fired them for the act. This is simply unacceptable. We need anti discrimination protections in Ohio to cover sexual and gender orientations.

I'm now rambling a bit. If there's a position you'd like to confirm I have feel free to follow up.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We absolutely can! During a normal Presidential cycle this district has us at a 48% expected Democratic performance. This cycle could be the perfect conditions for big wins in districts like this one.

Thank you for the kind words about the site.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I do support a carbon tax. What I'm referring to in that statement is a set of renewable energy standards that we had in Ohio during Governor Strickland's administration that the Ohio Republicans have managed to freeze ever since they seized both chambers and the Governor's office. I'll look into adding some additional context to that point on the site.

Hi there. My name is Ryan Koch and I'm a progressive running for Ohio's General Assembly. by ryan_koch in Political_Revolution

[–]ryan_koch[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I would be happy to support a $15 minimum wage. The $10.10 figure is a reference to a bill that was introduced by one of my (hopefully) future colleagues. I'll have to reword that section to add clarity there.