by John Tait
Despite Election night demonstrating that the present was not a good time for Republicans, Election data indicated the future could be much worse. While many believed the GOP’s demise was imminent, Republican politicians and media personalities expressed a belief their party could be saved by increasing their appeal to minority voters. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wrote of the need to go after every vote. “President Obama and the Democrats can continue trying to divide America into groups of warring communities with competing interests, but we will have none of it. We are going after every vote as we try to unite all Americans”. However, what Jindal and his followers will soon realize is that such a task is impossible.
As America becomes more diverse, our representatives are asked to fulfill the expectations of various people with contradictory requests. Privileges for one group always come at the expense of another. Therefore, it is impossible to represent everyone properly in a racially diverse society. As minority groups grow in size and number, the difficulty of representing the people will increase. It is an all too common circumstance in contemporary America when one group will ask for no government action while another asks for excessive assistance. The ability to represent both groups is impossible. The solution to such has been compromise. However, compromise in contemporary America results in rights, values, and property of White citizens being confiscated and disrespected. The recipients are non-whites, who are both undeserving of the benefits without possessing a rightful claim in this country. What appears to be compromise is in actuality the taking from America’s rightful beneficiaries for the sake of those who create detrimental short term concerns while causing devastating long-term consequences.
In contemporary America, citizens can be broken down into three general groups. The first group consists of Authentic Americans who understand our factual, rather than our fabricated past. Adherents to this group recognize that we were a country that benefitted from a common race, culture, history and heritage. They aren’t fooled by common lines made by members of the media and government calling America a nation of Immigrants. Such individuals understand that immigration was a major part of American history after the Revolutionary War. However, they possess the historical facts and ability to realize that we didn’t prosper from worldwide immigration, but from White immigration. As demographics change, members of this group see that not as a benefit, but as a detriment that is destroying the country they love. They identify George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and Robert E. Lee as genuine American heroes whose nearly infinite wisdom should be remembered and reproduced. Disgusted with the current state of affairs and options offered in the voting booth, these individuals often stay home, vote for third party candidates, or unenthusiastically support Republicans.
The Second group consists of members of the same race as the first, but with a different opinion on the future of this country. They see the massive demographic shift as a positive that will enrich America. To them, a country made up of people who vary significantly is stronger than one that shares a common past and hope for the future. Members of this group are unable to think rationally, as they see daily evidence that contradicts their opinions. For example, such individuals attend political rallies with their children while enthusiastically supporting candidates who outwardly promise to penalize those kids through affirmative action. They don’t recognize hypocrisy in endorsing government-instituted disadvantages politically while advocating unlimited opportunity for their children personally. Their historical heroes include Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt while contemporary replacements range from Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The third group consists of non-whites who have been given citizenship. They express openly their desire for a future in which their specific race and culture is dominant numerically, economically, and politically. While the facts prove that White people created this country, members of this group have a different analysis of our history. Despite all of the ideas and most of the labor coming from Whites, blacks tend to believe that they deserve extra benefits and representation due to an incorrect assumption that their ancestors performed a disproportionate share of the labor. Hispanics, on the other hand, believe that a large portion of America is rightfully theirs despite losing the land in wars. Today, they vote for politicians who promise to take the wealth and rights from groups one and two. With passionate pride, they declare the first two groups are old and dying, and that they will reap future benefits as a result. The heroes revered by the first group are seen as villains, while those looked up to by the second group are regarded as only temporarily useful. Members of this group generally vote for Democratic candidates, while looking to a future in which they are strong enough numerically and politically to support candidates who more specifically represent their interests. Members of this group generally share heroes only if they are of the same race. For example, blacks look up to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X while Hispanics idolize Che Guevara and Antonio Villaraigosa.
The electoral strength of the third group continues to increase at the expense of the first two. This shift in influence by demographic is demonstrated in the results of Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory in 1984 and Mitt Romney’s considerable defeat this year. Reagan and Romney achieved nearly identical success amongst the White electorate with 59% voting in their favor. A number that once ensured victory in 1984 wasn’t quite enough in 2012. What many feel can seal the Republicans fate in the future is that the White percentage of the electorate declines by about 2% per election cycle. If unable to significantly increase their ability to persuade non-whites to vote in their favor, the Republicans would have to enlarge their majority share of the White vote as the demographic becomes a smaller portion of the electorate. While Romney won a comfortable majority of the White vote, 88% of all votes cast is his favor were from the majority racial demographic
Despite their accusations against the Democrats for dividing American during this past Election, the only way for Republicans to broaden their appeal to non-whites in future elections is to do the same. If the Republican Party can convince non-whites that they will give them additional benefits and become more successful defending their culture than the Democrats, the Republicans just may be able to gain minority support. It is, however, an impossible task to promise the seizure of property White’s achieved both individually and collectively without causing them to flee the party. The only way for the Republican Party to broaden its appeal to non-whites is by betraying its white base. If they continue to do so, White’s will have the same reaction to the Republican Party as they do with neighborhoods that experience demographic shifts. Growing non-white numbers cause white flight from neighborhoods due an increase in crime, reduction in school quality, and an inability to feel comfort and happiness in a neighborhood they once called home. If the Republicans manage to make inroads with minority voters, they will cause white flight as an increase in the ability to represent the requests of minority voters decreases their capacity to act for Whites.
In 1921 and 1924, Republican administrations led by Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge signed Immigration Act’s that ensured the ethnic balance of the United States would not be altered in the near future. They addressed the issue long before the consequences became catastrophic. Unfortunately, more recent Republicans have chosen to ignore the issue when it affects the health of the country they promise to preserve. Republicans only began to now address the issue after it became clear that their ability to win elections had severely diminished. Their desire was to ensure that they were representing the people, not that the people were represented well.
As the Republican Party responds to past election results, it appears they will do everything possible to guarantee their future irrelevance. To combat this, Bobby Jindal and the GOP can continue to accuse Democrats of dividing America. However, when combining democracy and diversity, it is impossible not to.
John Tait is a freelance writer currently living just outside of Chicago. His first book, Plain Truth, was published in 2008.
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