The "demography" problem is only a part of the Republicans' troubles--and as I see it from this red state, not the worst of it. People will vote outside their racial/ethnic categories, if they see a reason to do so. (I say this as a white person who voted and campaigned for Obama. And he's not the first black person I've voted for.)

It's about the IDEAS, Bill. It's not just yourselves that are old--your ideas are, too.

This is the 21st century now--and your party is still fighting to return to the 19th. While you're battling the culture wars of the 20th century and hoping to roll back modernity, we're moving on, Grand OLD Party, without you.

When Reagan ran for office, the GOP could call itself the "Party of Ideas" and be taken seriously. (Most voters didn't notice they were the ideas of 1840. I mean, just take a look at the Whig platform...) But now it just won't wash.

Before, we could be persuaded that "deregulation" would mean less paperwork for our businesses--but we failed to consider that it gave those clever MBAs license to create implements of financial mass destruction. "Deregulation" meant that financial crime was de-criminalized. (And now those slimeballs can't be punished! Because there was no law against it! Whose fault, do you think?)

And those "tax cuts"? A clever way to give us poor working slobs back a few hundred bucks--while "deregulation" helped to wipe out billions of dollars in our personal savings. My retirement savings built over decades are gone, Bill. (Despite my lack of debt and my 30-yr fixed mortgage.) I was a sucker and put it in a 401K, invested in Wall Street, and you know the rest.

Keep your penny-ante tax cuts. Or use it to finance single payer healthcare, so when I get old and sick and BlueCross dumps me, I won't have to go bankrupt. Anybody who thinks healthcare insurance is subject to any sort of "free market" where you can just go buy some is not living in America.

Can you guess that any politician that utters those 2 evil phrases (tax cut and deregulation) will be somebody that I work to defeat? Can you guess that most of us are aware that what yall call the "free market" is rigged--against most of us?

And then there's that immigration problem. I have noted that Republicans seem to talk out of both side of their mouths here--nobody adores that cheap labor more, but they only wish they'd evaporate into thin air at sunset. Yall can have oodles of fun rounding up people, but it doesn't make our immigration system less antiquated and it doesn't address the real issues in our labor markets.

And don't forget one of your BIGGEST problems: the Religious Right, those chief advocates of returning to a MUCH earlier time (say, 1200). Yall continue to put these people in positions of responsibility and run them for office. But guess what? The rest of us are sick of them! Those Tali-baptists can make a mean pecan pie, but they do a poor job of actually running anything--they only have "One Right Way" and cannot play well with others.

Oh, and finally, have a look at who is promoting your so-called "ideas." Rush Limbaugh. Glen Beck. Bill O'Reilly. Sean Hannity. Sarah Palin!!! (And believe me, the local wingnut jocks are even worse.) Need I say more? For me, their whiteness is not as big a problem as this: you have basically god-awful ideas promoted by obnoxious, ignorant, crazy people.

Show me something SMART for a change. Lose the Bushes, the Palins, the Mitch McConnells, and Jeff Sessions types. And get rid of Karl first--you need innovative smarts, not the guys who are only smart at destruction. Get some ideas, instead of recycling the old trash.

Evolve or die, GOP!

If there is a way to put off entering law school, you might be well served by not going right to school. The best thing might be trying to work as a paralegal--or just figure out a way to hang out at a law practice. Watch the people around you and see if you could stand to do what they do. If you think you have an interest in an area of law, try it--if you think international law could be your thing, or environmental law, or whatever.

There are many areas of law that are interesting and meaningful--but they often don't pay very well. That said, you may find that one of these areas will be your passion.

The debt thing is a big concern--it sounds like you're feeling trapped because you already have so much debt. So do you want to take on $100K more? Any chance you could go to a less expensive state school instead?

The skills you learn in law school will be useful, even if you decide against practicing and end up running your own business. There are worse things for a good writer to do to pay the rent.