Cracks at the Seam

Could the Republican dominance in Texas be slowly coming to an end? At this point it’s too early to tell but with State Representative Kirk England and Dallas County Judge John Creuzot jumping ship and fleeing to the Democratic Party, their are definite cracks at the seam. A recent article in the East Texas Review by William Murchison asks the question of rather the Dallas GOP should be scared and then offers his opinion of the good and bad of the situation from the GOP’s perspective.

The good he says is the abandonment of the party by “rats and RINOs” or Republicans in Name Only. The result will be a more unified and common shared conservative message. Lately this hasn’t been the case with many Legislators wearing the Republican nametag knowing it will give them a better chance at winning office. The bad being the ever shrinking Republican voter base in Texas as the Hispanic population continues to approach becoming the Texas majority. With the Republican Party championing a tough on immigration policy, their likeness does not fare well with the soon to be dominate, Hispanic voter base.

Mr. Murchison is absolutely right in his assumption that Republicans should be nervous of the ever growing Hispanic voter base, but the good he sees in the situation has me a little stumped. I get the feeling of a sort of cleansing of the more moderate Republicans to a more pure form of conservatism. This can not be good for the Republican Party in regards to how highly diverse Texas has become. They can’t rely solely on suburban white Christians to get them elected any longer. The conservative Christian voter base is shrinking as Democrats are finding ways to integrate faith into their message and values. A more pure form of conservatism is bound to almost exclude issues such as increased health care access, welfare, and funding for inner city schools which are issues held highly by minority populations.

So what can the Republicans do? Well its obvious that they have to find a way to win Hispanic votes or else their reign in Texas will quickly end. They are going to have to adopt immigration reform that offers more opportunities to immigrants or find other issues to attract voters. As for the Democratic Party, if they could find ways to get out the minority vote, the State is theirs for the taking while they sit back and watch the Republicans make their own costly mistakes. - Garrett

http://www.easttexasreview.com/story.htm?StoryID=4871