For the Republicans, an idea whose time has come
The Republican Party has a problem: it represents several shrinking demographics, led by elderly white people and the well-to-do. The ineradicable views of white voters in the red states and gerrymandering in purple states like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania have locked a majority in Congress in for them for some time to come, but they are having a much harder time in presidential elections and even statewide races. Their rhetoric increasingly emphasizes the electoral power of the less well off, whom they like to stigmatize as those who merely take from the government while they give to it--the notorious 47%, which may well grow thanks to the sequester that they ordered. Now they face the dilemma of immigration reform, which studies show would benefit the nation's economy but which would also add millions of new hispanics to the voting rolls. It occurred to me this morning that the solution to Republican electoral problems is, when you think about it, obvious, and a fr...