The always brilliant, and broad visioned (cough, cough)
governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell commented on “CBS This Morning” after
President Obama’s re-election victory that the Republican Party has to expand
its appeal to a wider range of voters before the next election cycle.[1]
Brilliant!
So brilliant in fact that just about anyone interested in
politics could have come up with the same conclusion long before this latest
round of political elections.
Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) lament that there weren’t
enough “angry white guys”[2]
to propel the Republican Party into the White House and control of the U.S.
Congress gives some idea of the “minority problem” that the Republican Party
faces and has faced for some time. According to Graham, “The demographics race
we’re losing badly. We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in
business for the long term.”[3]
Indeed, one striking statistic bears Graham’s point out.
Hispanics made up 10 percent of all votes cast during the 2012 elections, with
only 27 percent voting for Mitt Romney. Yikes!
Of course, it shouldn’t have taken a supposedly lame duck
presidents reelection to bring this point home.
Viewing any number of Mitt
Romney’s “rallies” during the course of his campaign trail, one would be hard-pressed
to find a minority presence anywhere near that of Romney’s presidential
opponent.
But the real question is, can the Republican Party change?
Can the GOP actually cast off its narrow policy platform to embrace a wider
base of voters, and can it do so in time for the next round of elections?
One thing this presidential election should have taught the
so-called political experts and amateurs alike is that anything is possible in
our dynamic and ever-changing world. Yes, it’s even possible that the GOP can
change its message over time to include a broader base of voters, even if the
hatefulness and bigotry still lies underneath the surface.
What is much less uncertain is that America is changing
demographically, and fast. Can our republic truly represent these disparate
groups as their political power along with their numbers increase? And will
this growing power drive more white voters into one politically defensive
corner? The experiment that is America continues!
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