Today's GOP: Defined by Region, Religion, Race and Class

All of the changing demographics of America seem to be spelling an eventual death knell for the Republican Party.  Yet, the party base shows no signs of moderating, perhaps largely because the GOP has become controlled by Christofascists and their Tea Party cousins who have a hard tome dealing with and objective reality.  These folks want to return to some fantasy version of the 1950's where women, blacks, gays and minorities all knew their place either in the closet or in subservient roles to white Christian males.  They just cannot grasp the reality that those days - to the extent they ever existed as now imagined - are gone forever.    Two pieces look at this phenomenon.  First one in The Daily Beast and the latter in the New York Times that looks at the anti-immigrant mindset of Hazelton, Pennsylvania.  First highlights from The Daily Beast article:

Given what the Republican Party is and where America’s demographics are heading, it is unclear whether the Grand Old Party can successfully pivot to the center without jeopardizing its socially conservative evangelical base. Electoral competitiveness remains elusive for Republicans as singles and younger voters have migrated to the Democratic Party. The GOP is also shackled with the legacies of Iraq, Katrina and the crash of 2008 that have led many to view Republican competence as oxymoronic. 

So at best, the party is barely treading water. A recent PPP poll shows both incumbent Senator Marco Rubio and former Governor Jeb Bush trailing Hillary Rodham Clinton by double digits—in Florida. Putting things in perspective, if the Republicans do not win Florida, they cannot re-take the White House. Indeed, with Florida, and Virginia — another state that Barack Obama carried twice—the once-Republican Solid South is starting to look like a blue-and-red checkerboard, with Democrats now owning some of the biggest squares.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party is far from agreed that it even has a problem.  In fact, intra-party schisms were vividly displayed at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference  .   .  .  .  Okay for reality TV, perhaps, if not so much for serious national politics.

The Republican National Committee further added to the party’s woes by releasing its 100-page campaign autopsy—as RNC Chair Reince Priebus so memorably described it —acknowledging that “voters are increasingly rolling their eyes at what the Party represents” and lamenting the perception of the Republicans

To top it all off, the 2013 cycle may bring additional Republican losses. In the Virginia governor’s race, former Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe leads Republican state attorney general Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli previously volunteered his belief that President Obama being born in Kenya did not “seem beyond the realm of possibility” and has equated abortion with slavery.

Although the elections of Quinn and McAuliffe are hardly forgone conclusions, their message of accommodating both business and social realities is getting both candidates more than just a second look. 

Not surprisingly, pragmatism has greater appeal to political independents and moderates than to Republicans. Thus, the questions that the Republican Party must answer are how much and how soon is it willing to yield on its professed principles for the sake of victory; when does political disagreement cease to be branded as heresy by the party faithful, and what the party will actually gain if it does yield. Answering those questions may not be quick or tidy in light of the currents of region, religion, race and class that define and buffet the party. 

The New York Times article looks at the rampant anti-immigrant mindset in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, located in the mountainous stretch of Interstate 81 between Harrisburg and Scranton.   If you haven't passed through Hazelton, you haven't missed much.  It in some ways symbolizes the economic problems faced by areas that refuse to move into the 21st century and cling to prejudice and do everything but erect signs that say "newcomers not welcomed."  Hazelton personifies the coming GOP civil war on immigration reform.  Here are some article highlights: 

Before Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, before “self-deportation” became the Republican presidential platform in 2012, there was Hazleton.   This working-class city in the Poconos passed the country’s first law aimed at making life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they would pack up and leave. 

[T]he city presents a test case of whether the [GOP] party risks leaving behind a critical part of its core constituency: white working-class voters for whom illegal immigration stirs visceral reactions. 

“I’m totally against it,” said Jim Murphy, a lifelong resident who was sharing a pitcher of beer with a friend at Senape’s Tavern Pitza, under a McCain-Palin bumper sticker from 2008. “Illegal is illegal. Chase them all out. They don’t belong here.” 

Joanne Ustynoski, who owns a small automotive business with her husband, Mickey, echoed many native residents who said that illegal immigrants in Hazleton received government benefits and were not as committed to hard work as their own forebears from Italy, Poland and Ukraine. 

Hispanic residents said they felt their entire population was stigmatized by the crackdown on illegal immigrants. Felix Perez, a Walmart employee with two daughters, 2 and 9, recalled a time he hesitated at the wheel of his car, unsure which way to turn, and the non-Hispanic driver behind him got out with a gun in his hand. “He saw my face, he knew I was Spanish,” Mr. Perez said. “They believe we are all the same because we look the same.” 

Erika Hernandez, a community liaison, disputed the mayor and Mr. Barletta’s claims that efforts aimed at illegal immigrants are not a reflection on other Hispanics. The actions send a message of blanket hostility, she said.

“The people in this town, we’re becoming a minority,” said Chris DeRienzo, 30, a wedding photographer who opposes a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. “It hurts. I grew up here. It’s not what it used to be.”  “You want to scream,” he added.

Hazelton is much like Southwestern Virginia, an area that is dying economically and seeing younger generations flee the region.  Meanwhile, the region remains so unwelcoming, few progressive businesses would ever want to relocate there.    One of history's lessons is that change is constant and that those who want to thrive need to have flexibility and open mindedness - characterists totally lacking from ost of today's GOP.