Much has been said of the GOP's demographic problem. Everyone is talking about how the GOP has to get the Hispanic vote.
Here are some basic numbers.
72% of voters were white and they went 40% for Obama ,58% for Romney.
13% of voters were Black and went 93% for Obama and 6% for Romney
10% were Hispanic and they went 69% for Obama and 29% for Romney
5% were Asian, 74% for Obama, 25% for Romney
5% were 'other', 58% for Obama and 38% for Romney.
So that means, out of 100 voters:
30 White Obama fans vs. 42 White Romney fans
12 Black Obama fans vs. 1 Black Romney fan
7 Hispanic Obama fans vs. 3 Hispanic Romney fans
4 Asian Obama fans vs 1 Asian Romney fan
3 other Obama fans vs. 2 other Romney fans
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56 total Obama fans vs 49 other Romney fans
(as always, the numbers don't add up to 100% because of rounding)
The GOP is worried that they only got 29% of the Hispanic vote. They have bigger problems.
Honestly, 29% is not that bad. Not compared to 25% for Asians. And certainly not compared to 6% for blacks Blacks outnumber Hispanics.
OK, so you can't see black people voting against a black president. Well in 2004 Senator Kerry won 88% of the black vote and Gore won 90% in 2000. (Source) It's not because Obama is black, it's because he's a Democrat.
The GOP does not have a Hispanic problem. It has a NON-WHITE problem. It's not just the Hispanics. It's blacks, Asians and even 'other'. There is NO reason they should abandon the black 13% of the electorate. The fact that they are talking about fixing their Hispanic problem and not even talking about their black problem is itself telling. It means they won't even consider trying to get black votes.
It's not just an 'immigration' issue. Treating it that way will not solve the problem. Part of it is a racism issue. Until they fix that issue, they will never win the majority of a votes of any non-white electorate.
The republicans are just a little bit racist. Strange, because 60 years ago it was the southern Democrats that were racists. The DNC got over that mainly because of the actions of two people - JFK and Lyndon B. Johnson. Those two presidents, mainly Johnson, moved us forward away from racism, leaving the GOP to pick up the old racists.
But being just a little bit racist isn't a horrible thing. Just ask Kate Monster. The GOP has an even bigger problem. Right now, I'm about to show just a little bit racism myself. If you heard a black man voted for Romney - most people would assume "He's rich." Because from my experience, most poor black people don't vote Republican. Frankly I'm always surprised when I hear about poor white people voting Republican. As a white Democrat, I wish that poor white people were as logical about their vote as poor black people. OK, enough of my racism.
It's not just racism, it's class-ism. The GOP likes to talk about "Class Warfare". They blame the Democrats, saying when we demand taxes be 'fair', it's class warfare. Nope. It was class warfare when you created the unfair taxes in the first place. The Republicans are the master of class warfare. As proven by Romney's famous quote.
Here it is: "All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon
government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the
government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they
are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that
that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And
they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people
who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people.
I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and
care for their lives."
He refuses to admit that any poor people might actually BE victims. It has to be their fault. They can't be worth saving or even worrying about them. And that's the basic problem with the GOP. They insist that everyone take full responsibility for every bad thing that happened to them. I'm all for taking responsibility for things you do. But not everything bad is caused by the victims.
Get raped? It's your own damn fault, says the GOP. Get sick and lose your job? Your fault. Get denied a job because of your skin color? It's your fault. Get beaten up because your gay? Your fault. Get hit by a hurricane? Your fault.
The GOP is wrong. There is evil in this world. It is not a karmic-ally neutral universe where God punishes you for things you did bad. Bad things happen to good people. The government needs to take this into account.
Republicans needs an attitude adjustment. You can believe in capitalism without insisting on continuing to mistreat people that did not do anything to deserve it. That is the real problem with their philosophy.
Yes, there are some people in the world that don't try. Their own misfortunes are caused by their failures. But it is just as often that their misfortunes are caused by sheer chance, their parents or by other people.
Sometimes you come up with a brilliant idea and make a fortune. Other times just as you are putting all your money into your brilliant idea, someone else comes up with an even better one. There is no second place prize in capitalism. Mark Twain went bankrupt betting on a new improved typesetting machine when another, better one came out. There was this really cool shoe lace holder system for kids that came out just before Velcro. The guy that came up with that idea lost all his money, as velcro blew it away. Doesn't mean he didn't work hard or come up with a brilliant idea. Just bad luck that someone else came up with a better one too soon after he came up with his.
The GOP needs to admit that the government has a place helping down and out people. They need to admit that being born poor and in the wrong school district is something that does affect your chances. No, not everyone can overcome it.
It also needs to admit that the Democrats are not fools and traitors, that we have ideas and morals. That we are part of this country and deserve a fair say.
They need to be a loyal opposition once again.
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