A Southern Strategy For The Rest Of Us

Richard Land on the way forward for the GOP:

Pro-life and pro-family agendas can appeal to minority voters in an increasingly diverse society. California, Arizona and Florida approved amendments banning same-sex marriage. They did so at least partially on the basis of African-American and Hispanic voters who "surged" for Barack Obama and then voted against same-sex marriage. In California (70%) and Florida (71%) black voters supported both traditional marriage and Sen. Obama overwhelmingly.

The third core value must be a diversity agenda that aggressively recruits ethnic minorities into significant involvement in the GOP. The 2008 Republican National Convention did not reflect America's ethnic diversity. Demographics dictate that this must change, and decency demands that it should. This must include a more proactive approach on immigration reform.

So not entirely for the rest of us, but if it were inclusive it wouldn't be a southern strategy. I've thought that this was the way forward for the GOP for awhile--thought not that forward. In a parallel universe, where Hillary and Huckabee have gotten their respective party's nomination, I see Huckabee peeling off a solid 20--possibly 30--percent of the black vote.

That said, much like the original Southern Strategy, this is the sort of solution that bets on ignorance and the past, as opposed to education and the future. "Blame teh blackz" and especially "blame teh latinz," presents a demographic problem that "blame teh gayz" doesn't. But it still has the same limited returns, in that it bets on young people being as uncomfortable with gay people as their parents. I see virtually no evidence to support that idea, and a lot of evidence for the reverse. A bet against gay marriage is a bet against the future. These cats are going to have to come up with something that appeals to young people--not because young people are going to vote at the same rate as their parents, but because young people will one day actually be parents.