But Will They Govern?

Listening to TV commentators over the past few years you would think the Republican Party was almost dead. These commentators are smart p...

Listening to TV commentators over the past few years you would think the Republican Party was almost dead. These commentators are smart people, and they do know what they are talking about. Mostly, they point to the Republican Party's demographic problems. In the decade to come, the Hispanic population, which is heavily Democrat, will keep growing as a percent of the United States population. And the white population, whom the Republicans depend on, will decline as a percentage. And perhaps more discouraging for Republicans, older white voters are going to die off.

That is easy enough to understand. Maybe in the years ahead, we will see those forces take hold, and the Republican Party will decline. But I don't think so. As their current voter base dies off, the Republican Party will simply change to take advantage of another voter base. The Republican Party used to be the party of Lincoln, but then they moved far, far away from that. Some day they could make a complete circle and become the party of Lincoln again. What they are sure to do is whatever it takes to win elections. Right now, they are ultra-conservative, but only because that is what Republican donors want them to be.

The Democrats are also flexible. At one time, the Democrats had a racially conservative Southern wing to their party, but they lost that (that wing flew to the Republicans) with the passage of The Civil Rights Bill. The Democrats used to be more liberal back in the days of FDR, but that too changed because the Republicans were so successful being ultra-conservative, so the Democrats became more conservative.

The two parties will do whatever it takes to win elections. And while the parties may try, for a while, to lead the population in certain directions—either to be more liberal or conservative or moderate—in the end, they will do whatever their donors want.

The real question is what will the Republican Part become and change into as their older white base dies off. Will they become less conservative? I think so. At some point in the future, they will probably become, I hope, more moderate. However, we will see.

Will Hispanic and younger voters swing elections to the Democratic Party? Maybe, but maybe not. Hispanics can be very conservative. And young people get jobs and develop interests which they want to protect, causing them to become more conservative. It is hard to say what the future will bring.

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Consider This:

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. -Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President (1809-1865)