Diverse Demographics Show Doom for Republicans

In the words of Heather Smith, President of Rock the Vote: "I think we've now established a fairly decent pattern that this generation is different from their older brothers and sisters, and we can put those rumors of apathy to bed " This voting bloc can no longer be an afterthought to any party or campaign." 

It's hard to see Fox backing off on its Islamophobia, which affects Muslims and Asians and maybe more. Good people don't like bigotry and they smell the stink of it. 

It will be even more difficult to silence the white male Catholic Cardinals and Bishops who speak out against Democratic candidates, who order priests to speak out against voting Democratic. This works a bit for white, non-hispanic Catholics, particularly males. But it is turning a lot of women off. 

The Republicans depend on big money billionaire and wealthy donors like Adelson, the Koch brothers and their ilk to fill the coffers of campaigns. They didn't look very good this last election. People want fairness. Buying elections with great wealth doesn't cut it. 

That leads me to voter disenfranchisement. The right has been doing this in many ways-- particularly at the state level. That's where the right has had most success. They take control of state-houses and win governor races, then do all they can to make it harder for minorities and the poor to vote, using voter ID, eliminating early voting, reducing the number of voting locations in minority and poor areas. Ben Jealous of the NAACP calls these latter approaches, which lead to long  lines where people have to wait many hours a form of Poll Tax, because people lose hours at work. 

As I've written, there is a revolution under way from a top down to a bottom up world, culture, even way of seeing and doing. The top down powers are fighting hard to hold onto their powers. It will, as Lawrence Wilkerson has said, be bloody.  The billionaires will buy and corrupt what they can. 

The inevitable doom of the right will come slowly. They've used gerrymandering to hold on to the house. That has to be overturned. The way to do this is simple. Tip O'Neill said all politics is local. Those demographic groups who won for Obama do not perform so well in off year elections. Single Women, young people-- their participation drops off dramatically. If we are going to progress faster towards a more progressive, bottom up politics, it's going to be essential for those demographic groups to get out and vote, so the legislatures and governor's mansions are taken over by people who will clean up elections-- ending bizarre gerrymandering and maximizing access to elections for all. Those should not be partisan issues. 

But wait. There's more. All these demographic disadvantages should be advantages for progressives. But they're not. They've accrued to the lesser of two evils party-- the Democrats. There's a lot of work to be done, but the trends are hopeful. Cleaning up gerrymandering at state levels could lead to federal legislation that ends gerrymandering in any state. 

Getting more democrats in Congress may do little, but if Obama keeps his word and fixes election problems, and future Congresses continue that process, then the American people will be in a better position to actually choose their candidates. We will hopefully, eventually see some form of instant run-off voting that allows second and third choices to be expressed-- an essential step towards ending two party duopoly rule. 

Still, ending the worst of two evils, or seeing the dark at the end of its tunnel is a good thing. It is likely that the GOP will not roll over and die. They will make some adjustments. Hopefully they will be towards justice, fairness and the light.