What happens to GOP and conservatism in a nonwhite America?

A reader writes:

On Sunday, Michael Barone opined in the Washington Examiner that the GOP shouldn’t “panic” if whites become a minority in America.

Today they printed my response—somewhat mutilated by the editor, but the essential points are there:

Conservatism will die if whites become minority Re: “GOP shouldn’t panic if whites become a minority,” April 2 Michael Barone says it’s a “mistake” to view blacks, Latinos, and Asians as a single unified voting bloc, but then cites figures to the effect that about 60 percent of Latinos and Asians vote Democratic. Does he really need to be reminded that if “only” 60 percent of a rapidly growing group consistently votes Democratic, Democrats are more likely are to win elections?

The situation is even worse for the GOP than it sounds because of the Electoral College. Latinos are concentrated in a few states. If they transform Florida and Texas into solid electoral votes for Democrats, as they did in the former GOP bastion of California, then a Republican path to 270 votes becomes well-nigh impossible.

More importantly, if the Republican Party abandons its principles and transforms itself into a liberal party in order to win the votes of liberal minorities, then the party as we know it will be dead even if it wins elections.

If whites become a minority, conservatism will surely die—even if the GOP as such does not. Those who believe that liberalism is destroying America should view this prospect with deep concern.

James Perry
Arlington

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 06, 2011 10:16 AM | Send