Meet Jake Taylor, Loyola Undergraduate and Senate Campaign Manager
Jake Taylor, a Loyola Sophomore and State Senate Campaign Manager
Jake Taylor is a sophomore Political Science major here at Loyola but he is also the campaign manager for a Republican Party candidate for the State Senate in Fall 2022. In the primary this year, Jake helped Christian Miele to defeat the incumbent by 50%, despite his opponent having endorsements from the sheriff deputies’ union and being head of a major law enforcement association. I interviewed Jake several weeks before election day. – Carsten Vala, Department Chair
When did you first become interested in politics?
I would trace it back to the 5th grade. That was the beginning..[I was] always hyperfixated on American history. What did I find compelling? Actually, it was the founding ideas, the Constitution, classical liberalism…[and eventually I realized that] what you need to do with your life, is to work in the service of your country, you love helping people. That’s what I should spend my life doing.
I couldn’t imagine not loving [politics]. It is such an integral part of my life.
You mentioned cura personalis. What drew you to Loyola?
It helped going to a Jesuit high school. I had two options when considering where to go to college: I could go to a renowned school with a top-tier political science program. But I thought, it doesn’t matter what institution’s name is on the diploma, what really matters is going to a school where professors care about me, and know me. If I went to an institution that cared about all of me, I would find great friends, and it would be a healthy place to grow. And nothing [at Loyola] has proven me wrong so far.
Tell me a little bit about your interest in Maryland politics in particular.
I like to say I wear my political beliefs on my [points to his] chest, haha [he is wearing a Reagan/Bush ‘84 shirt]. Others asked [me], why don’t you go to a red state, and attend a school like Vanderbilt? But I’m not interested in making a name for myself, but helping the people I care about, and this state is the place I love, and where the people are who I want to help. So Maryland is where I want to serve. And for me, [Governor Larry] Hogan offers a model for inspiration about how to unite a superminority with the rest of the people. His way isn’t unique to Governor Hogan but he is a good model. Maryland is my home.
What are the big challenges for the Republican party?
I think like all political parties out of power, and that are in the minority, is how we gain power again. There are two avenues: among voters of color, specifically Hispanic voters…[and also] I think the rhetoric of Reagan, the rhetoric of “city on a hill,” “last, best hope for democracy” is very appealing. I’m troubled that the Republican party is losing young voters by 15-20 points, which is troubling for our generation.
Speaking locally, most folks don’t want one-party rule, they don’t want extremism. That’s why the [Martin] O’Malley administration was such a disaster. If we can present an optimistic, optimistic view, maximizing the amount of money keep in their pockets at the end of the week, and how to maximize people’s freedom. And young voters are motivated by climate change. What does the earth look like in 70 years? It doesn’t necessarily mean giving all the power to the government to decide how to solve climate change, but rather working with the market to find solutions. One of the attractive candidates to me was Carly Fiorina, a Silicon Valley CEO.
What is your own vision or dreams for the future? What do you hope to do in 10, 15, 20 years?
When you go into political life, it’s always impossible to know the answer, because you never know what will happen. But, whenever there is an opportunity that arises, when I can do some positive affirmative good, for people in my state, that is what I’ll do. So the immediate goal is to get Christian Miele elected to the State Senate. And then enacting positive change for our half of Harford County. So, right now, it’s winning this election in three weeks, and then, if we win, over the following four years, it’s making good on the promises for Havre de Grace, Hamilton, and other communities that Christian and I have been crisscrossing over the last months. I look forward to going to Annapolis and doing what we said we’d do.
[Update: Christian Miele fell a few votes short of victory in the election.]
Diana Schaub's book on How Lincoln Moved the Nation
The project was not originally my idea. An editor at St. Martin’s Press contacted me, asking if I would be interested in writing a short book on Lincoln’s greatest speeches. He had listened to a podcast that I did with Bill Kristol on his program Conversations, where we talked about both the Lyceum Address and the Gettysburg Address, with a promise of a second Conversation devoted to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural. Since I had no objection to calling those three speeches Lincoln’s greatest, all I did was say “yes.”
I've been including selections from Lincoln in courses here at Loyola for the past three decades and writing occasional Lincoln-themed articles and reviews. The book project allowed me to bring together what I think I’ve learned over the years about Lincoln’s political philosophy, especially his understanding of democracy and the degeneration to which it is prone.
2. Your new book on Lincoln has generated glowing reviews, for example, in the Wall Street Journal. What makes your perspective different from other works on Lincoln? Or, how has your scholarly work especially prepared you to write this book?
No one who ever lived, with the exception of Jesus, has been more written about than Abraham Lincoln. At this point, it is hard to be original. Still, most of that commentary and analysis has been done by historians of one stripe or another. My discipline is political philosophy rather than history. Lincoln is, without a doubt, our most philosophic statesman and seeing him through the lens of political philosophy does, I believe, open up some new vistas. One of the things that the study of political philosophy teaches is close reading, unpacking the levels and shades of meaning in every sentence, phrase, and word. I try to bring the same degree of attentiveness to Lincoln’s speeches that I would to a Platonic dialogue.
3. What does this study of Lincoln have to say to us as Americans in the year 2022? Is there anything you would like readers to come away with, after reading Lincoln’s speeches?
Because Lincoln’s reflections on the nature of democracy are timeless, they are always relevant. However, his wisdom is especially needed in times of political crisis. Although I don’t think we are on the verge of civil war, we are experiencing a rise in mob action. As in Lincoln’s day, these incidents are linked to increasing extremism across the political spectrum.
In analyzing the outbreaks of political violence in his own day, Lincoln acknowledged that the participants were initially motivated by a desire for justice, as they conceived it. He sketches how that quest for justice, when pursued through vigilantism, in disregard of the rule of law, degenerates. Soon, the “lawless in spirit” (the looters and anarchists) join in. Confronted with such a breakdown, the law-abiding citizens lose their trust in the government. Lincoln worries that this alienation of affection could go so far as to threaten our very form of government. Lurking in the wings are individuals of disordered ambition who would seize the opportunity to usurp power and subvert the experiment of self-government. Sadly, they might be helped to their demagogic and tyrannical aims by decent, tranquility-loving citizens. Lincoln warns his fellow Americans of the dangers of runaway passions. Basically what he argues is that collective self-government depends on the education of self-governing individuals who understand the democratic requirement of obedience to the Constitution and laws.
I suppose one thing we learn from studying Lincoln is that the American purpose is somehow both fragile and robust. It is easy to lose our moral compass and to go awry (as Americans in so many eras have), and yet the principles themselves—the self-evident truths of equality and liberty—are enduring and capable of ever-fresh renewal and rededication.
Visiting Professor Ugur Altundal (Ph.D. Syracuse, 2022)
Q: What got you interested in political science?
During my high school years, I started reading philosophy. After reading Plato’s Republic, I wanted to be a philosopher. But my father said I should do something that would help society and be more practical. [So] in college I took classes like political science, sociology, public administration, and so forth. Finally, I found, what Aristotle would call, the “golden mean” between two extremes. My interests are both political and theoretical. Political theory not only meets my father’s practicality criteria but also it satisfies my interests in the normative aspect of the social and political issues.
Q: Could you explain a little more with an illustration from your scholarly work?
An example of a practical and normative issue in my dissertation is immigration: should there be a right to immigration? We can describe how people are moving across political borders, and we can investigate why people are leaving their countries, what the push and pull factors are, and so forth. We should be informed…[but] as a political theorist, I must comprehend well-established social scientific research and consider a wide range of economic, social, and political processes surrounding immigration. In my dissertation I look at human mobility from normative lenses. Should states have a right to exclude travelers from their territories? If so, what is the moral justification for such a right?
Similarly, with human rights violations, you may question why they occur because we might believe human rights are universal. Yet authoritarian regimes…claim that these people [whose human rights are abused] are undermining the community’s rights or the unity of the state etcetera. So we end up questioning whether human rights are truly universal. In my work, I explore the philosophical, abstract, and sometimes religious origins of the rights, and examine how normative principles can ground these rights.
In political philosophy, we have certain normative lenses, like the deontological and the utilitarian. To put it in a very simplified way, the utilitarian view is that if the consequences of X are good and it promotes happiness, then X is the right to do. By contrast, the deontological view suggests that independent of the consequences, X should be the right thing to do. Both can ground moral justifications of human rights. To some people, deontology or utilitarianism [in the abstract]…may seem boring or incomprehensible alone but they become exciting in applications like immigration.
Q: How did you decide to focus on immigration? How does immigration relate to your personal story and a global issue?
As a political theorist, my main questions are: what are the principles of justice? What is the right thing to do? But these are sometimes abstract questions. I’m interested in the real problems that our societies face including poverty, inequality, racism, civil wars, displacement. These questions should draw on our real-world experiences of injustice. Immigration is also one of the applied topics that we can examine through our normative approaches.
First of all, I really enjoyed reading normative debates on immigration, like [the one] for and against “open borders.” I thought I can intellectually contribute to this field. Even more, I care about this topic. My motivation is personal. As someone originally from Turkey, with a Turkish passport, I need to apply for a visa to travel to the US, UK, Europe, and Canada. I, my family members, and friends have experienced visa restrictions and denials.
But it’s not just a personal story. It’s applicable to most people in the Global South, namely in Africa, the Middle East, most Asian countries, and Latin America. They have to apply for a visa and they are usually denied. Imagine that you pay your visa fees, schedule your interview at a consular office, provide detailed documentation about your travel plans, information about your finances, and then you are denied a visa. Why? A German or US passport holder can travel to more than 160 countries without even applying for a visa. There is a global inequality based on passports, and visa restrictions are targeted towards certain nationalities than others. I wanted to explain why this is a normative problem, why certain travel restrictions are unjustified from the perspective of the right to travel and global equality.
Q: What is one thing that you like to do in your classes, either as an exercise or a get to know you practice or something else?
I have a role play exercise in Global Justice. It’s normally hard to empathize with people from other cultures or ethnic groups or income levels or gender. It is also quite difficult not to be self-interested or biased when it comes to a policy making. So we follow an example in John Rawls’ work, a thought experiment in which we create a new world. Supposedly, students don’t know their personal characteristics and socio-economic circumstances in this new world to insure impartiality of judgment. In the role play, we are trying to find the principles of justice for this new world. I generally choose a policy problem and ask students to decide what the policy solution should be, without students knowing whether the policy will benefit them because they don’t know who they will end up being in this new world.
I also regularly use debates. Debates are very useful for students to evaluate a claim based on evidence and logical coherence. I try to have students defend the opposite viewpoint to what they naturally agree with. A supporter of “open borders” would be placed in a group to defend “closed” borders which helps them question (and strengthen) their own views.
Q: Finally, what makes you excited to be at Loyola?
I feel very lucky to be here. It’s a very friendly and peaceful environment. I loved the campus when I first came. I am excited about my job because Loyola is a great place to work. I am delighted to teach my favorite subjects as well. I am teaching Politics of Belonging and Migration this semester [Fall 2022], and Global Justice next semester [Spring 2023]. These are subjects I am passionate about and naturally enjoy talking about, and I hope to pass along this enjoyment and passion to my students.
