Christian is Defend Our Future’s Conservative Outreach Director. He’s attending the GOP convention as a delegate, and is sharing his thoughts on the experience.

Who am I, and Why am I here?

I’m borrowing that line from retired Admiral James Stockdale, who said it at the 1992 VP Debate when he was independent candidate Ross Perot’s running mate. He was routinely mocked for saying it, and many went so far as to speculate he was senile. Me, I always thought he was just trying to explain his predicament: he didn’t fit into either party’s mold, and yet there he was in the middle of democracy in action. He was weirded out by it, too, I think.

Those words ring true for me today. I’m in Cleveland, at the GOP Convention. I’m a believer in conservation, sensible environmental positions and energy innovation. I know we need a clean energy future for my generation and the next. I am also a Republican activist who is a delegate to the Republican National Convention. I know, in a quick analysis I don’t make sense. Who am I, and why am I here?

As a delegate, I am here to be a voice for voters in Washington, D.C. who elected me. I’m here because I want to meet and speak with commonsense Republicans who, like generations before us, recognize that we need to ensure clean air and clean water, because if not our lives will be pained solidly into the future. I also believe that we as a party need to stand up for new energy companies and approaches of using renewable technology to minimize our carbon footprint. I want to see glacial melting stop, droughts to not be permanent and a climate which allows abundant growth of agriculture to feed the mouths of millions and billions around the world.

Lots of people ask me why I don’t just bolt — the convention, the party, you name it. But I’ve always been a believer that if you want change, you’ve got to be in the fight. I’m not leaving this convention — or the GOP — because there’s work to be done.

Hopefully you’ll like what I say, and maybe we can think differently together.