I used to vote Republican. I used to watch Fox News, but now I do not.

I am white, I live in middle America, but my wife isn't white and I'm not Christian. The world is not white middle America, and to be frank, MY world is not this either. My world includes people from many races and cultures whom I interact with seamlessly.

As my world grew, my Republican view of the world became more and more inadequate. The old rules about what is what and how you do things became... irrelevant. My image of the Republican party was becoming one of undereducated white Christians that like to pick fights with people they do not understand. I did not want to be associated with this.

What I want is a group of people that first and foremost are not associated with any religion whatsoever. I want a group of people that do not hold on to slogans, but think critically. I want a group of people that demonstrably understand that we really do live in a complex world. I want them to understand diversity is not a political platform. It simply *exists* by virtue of not everyone being of the same color, sex, and religion.

I have voted against several Republicans in recent elections. I simply did not like them any more. Their world had not grown. Am I a Democrat now? Or is that simply yet another in a long line of false choices?

I am not prepared to call myself a Democrat. I do not agree with all that party has to offer.

But what is to become of the Republicans? Will they continue to lose popularity and fade away? Will a new party rise to replace it? Such things have happened in the past, but it is very hard to imagine. Will the Republicans "get it" and stop pushing people away?

Maybe a little, but the most likely scenario is simply that the Democrats will make a mistake large enough that people will run back to the Republicans, who will hold out their arms and embrace the votes.

They will talk about how they understand the "real America". But will we have a new Joe the Plumber? Will the views once again narrow on what America is?

I hope not.

Perhaps here are some points for all of us. 1. Reach out and bring back into the fold the Reagan Dems, Indies, the Libertarians, the Constitu. Party member and as many Blue Dogs moderate Dems as we can as long as we do not become the leftist socialist pacifist party that the Dems are. 2.Make a concerted effort to catch up on technology as Facebook, Twitter, et al to teach the principles of the Pub Party of liberty, free enterprise, choice, and cutting taxes and spending. 3. Show the conservative principles that is the foundation of the Party to the moderate middle class Black and Hispanic and Asian families. The Dems have no moral stances which appeal to these family values people. 4. Recruit smart, middle class ethnic candidates like a Jindal , Blackwell, Steele and run them in those tough districts where liberals simply use the voters as a dependent class as servants. There. That might help your angst.

No party stays the same; the republican party and the democratic party is constantly evolving. The Democrats seems to be evolving into very hateful, narrow-minded, anti-white male, anti-old, anti-business party, who believe we need the government to "help" us because we're all idiots, you know. Republicans are re-grouping, which is normal after an election, but mostly conservatives who recognize government is an inefficient, inept bureacracy; we need it for defense and infrastructure, but we don't want the government getting involved in business or in our lives.

"Just how does a politician 'screwing around on his wife' delegitimize ... or invalidate his insistence that children are best raised in stable two-parent families?"

Thanks for dropping by to so handily illustrate one of the points being made by a large number of posters.

The right wing is drowning so deeply in hypocrisy that they literally can't recognize it even when they themselves are citing examples of it.

Not only are you a bigot, you're also a delusional liar. Anyone who makes the ridiculous sweeping generalizations about blacks and latinos that you did, judges a person by their color first and foremost. Saying you don't judge a person by their color in one sentance and then in the next sentence, disparaging a diverse group of American citizens based upon their skin color without any legitimate facts to support your absurd assumptions, pretty much means you judge people by their skin color. And as far as your "truth" that individuals who produce and create a life are conservative is not based on facts; this "truth" is inaccurate; it is extremely arrogant, divisive and childish. As I said before, you have aquired nothing in your life "completely on your own." You have benefited from the government and the services it provides. But whatever, carry on with your bigotry.

The last sentence of your article, Mr. Greener, really says it all--Republicans need to figure out how to not offend minorities and other non-white non-males so....so they can what? Win more elections and get more power so....so they can what? Puruse their goal of riding roughshod over these same non-white males? The perception I'm coming away with from your article is that you want to hoodwink people into voting for a brand that is obsolete so you can retain power. Kind of like pushing beta max machines, saying, yes, but it's really superior to VHS! Not even taking into account that the whole tape industry no longer has anything to do with reality. What I think the Republicans really need to do, Mr. Greener, if they want to get back in the game, is figure out how non-white non-male Americans and white male Americans can all participate in the same American dream, after we define what the heck that is.

"If true, Hispanics and Blacks will benefit from the politicians they elect."

...who damm well won't be Republicans, because they have made it plain we don't count as citizens, consumers, workers, or real human beings in general.

"They may get better housing, health care, and education."

...not from the GOP...

"As a result, they'll advance into the middle and upper classes in large numbers. And, when they do, they will become more like their middle and upper class peers. They'll start switching to the Republican Party, as did Italians, Irish, etc -- formerly overwhelmingly Democratic -- who gained ground economically and began voting to protect that ground."

So, as soon as non-whites get some money, they'll conveniently forget all those years the GOP promoted hate against them and scapegoated them...and join the Republicans?! Bwhahahahah...