Jeff Taylor, a political science professor at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, said he was honored and grateful to attend the Republican National Convention last week in Tampa, Fla.
Taylor represented the 4th congressional district after attending county and state conventions.
Taylor was impressed. The convention hall was beautiful, the speakers spoke “with zest and without gaffes,” and the party was unified, he said.
Jeff Taylor at the Republican National Convention.
But Taylor also saw a different side to the convention.
“In the old days, delegates actually chose the nominee during the convention week,” Taylor said. “The roll call lasted for multiple ballots, sometimes over multiple days. Now, they are more of a ‘coronation.’”
He also noted that “although the ‘sins’ of the opposing party were loudly and repeatedly condemned, there was almost no confession of, or contrition for, our own ‘sins.’ The promotion of what could be viewed as anti-Christian values was unsettling to me. The poor appeared only as a plot device in rags-to-riches stories.”
Taylor has been teaching political science for 15 years in states including Minnesota, Illinois, Alabama, and Iowa. This was his first time attending the convention as a delegate, and he was encouraged by the unity of the delegates.
“It was nice to feel a sense of kinship, at least on some levels, with a bunch of strangers,” Taylor said. “It was nice to hear different regional dialects, from Massachusetts to Texas. It all contributed to a sense of community.”
As a Christian, Taylor was also encouraged by the fellowship of other believers. “The convention hall was full of professing Christians. I believe with many of them on social issues, so that was also a nice atmosphere in which to practice politics.”
