The GOP’s problem

Opinion: November 26, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

By Richard Parker

McClatchy-Tribune

In the aftermath of the election, one lesson that both parties — especially the Republican Party — should heed: Money cannot trump demography in a working democracy.

There is simply no greater example of this lesson than the importance of Hispanic voters, whom Republican candidates for president not only ignored but went out of their way to scorn. Playing to ethnic fear and even dwelling in the basement of outright racism against Hispanics is a perfect formula for the long-term destruction of the Republican Party as a national political party, and its transformation into a shrinking, regional one.

Look at the numbers: Hispanic, or Latino, voters pulled the lever for President Obama by a margin of 71 to 27 percent over former Gov. Mitt Romney. In turn, Romney relied upon a shrinking coalition of largely white, older male voters. Women, Catholics — the largest religious denomination in the country — younger people, African-Americans and Hispanics returned the president to the White House despite a terrible economic recovery and the widely held belief that the country is on the wrong track.

Ignoring the obvious

You can credit it to the deftness of Chicago political machine, sure. But in the hours after the election some conservative commentators underscored their party’s problem. I am a huge fan of two old-school columnists, George Will and Charles Krauthammer, himself formerly of The New Republic, where I once worked. One can disagree with Krauthammer’s point of view — but rarely with his analysis.

And yet, here was that rare moment. “All this cosmic stuff about how we have to reinvent the party,” he said on Fox News, “it is just a huge mistake.” And what about calling for immigration crack-downs and “self-deportation” as about the only way Republicans even bothered to speak to Hispanic voters, when they weren’t screaming about voter fraud, that is? “A tactical error,” Krauthammer called it. Not “structural.” And then he mumbled something about Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

Wrong. The Republican Party has a structural problem. It is ignoring the fact that the majority of children born in this country today are born into Hispanic households. Hispanics will be the majority in this country by 2050. Now, before all the fear-mongerers set in on this fact, it’s important to note two things. Yes, this portends an important shift in political power in this country. But no, that’s not as simple as it sounds. Through inter-marriage, upward mobility and greater tolerance the country as a whole is simply becoming more tolerant and multi-racial. The Hispanic experience in America may mimic the experience of Italians, Irish and African-Americans. But it will be distinct.

Democrats’ indifference

Frankly, the Democratic Party is taking Hispanics for granted — and has for years. But Democrats don’t generally go out of their way to insult Hispanics.

The Republican structural problem is its increasing over-reliance on being a Southern, white party that dominates legislatures, governors’ mansions and, as a result, particularly carefully drawn (read gerrymandered) congressional districts. Demography and the Census Bureau will not-so-gradually erase the latter — irrevocably.

And no, Mr. Krauthammer, this is not a public relations problem solved by a former governor who has a Hispanic wife or a sharp young senator who has the right last name — but still doesn’t come from the largest bloc of Hispanics.

Richard Parker is the president of Parker Research in Austin, Texas. He is a regular contributor to McClatchy-Tribune as well as The New York Times. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.