Slowly, relentlessly, America's population keeps evolving.
Hispanics, Asians, blacks and other minorities gradually are
overtaking traditional European whites. Women and gays steadily are
gaining status. Education levels keep rising. More people remain
single or live together without bothering to marry. Secular folks
who don't attend church are soaring. Less-educated white males keep
shrinking. Young "millennials" who came of age after 2000 are
booming. Retirees dependent on Social Security and Medicare keep
increasing as a share of the public.
All these demographic changes favor the Democratic Party and
boost President Obama's re-election chances Nov. 6. Diversity and
progressive views increasingly dominate the U.S. electorate.
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich says Republicans still
are "relying largely on one slice of America -- middle-aged white men
-- and alienating just about everyone else." Some examples:
The GOP platform would make it a crime to end any pregnancy, even
those stemming from rape or incest -- which would require jailing of
women, girls and doctors involved. But the Democratic platform
supports women's right to choose.
"Republicans have repeatedly voted against legislation giving
women equal pay for the same work as men," Reich noted, and GOP
state lawmakers constantly impose humiliating obstacles on females
seeking to halt pregnancies. No wonder women strongly prefer
Democratic candidates.
Attempts to deny equality to gays rises mostly from the GOP and
its fundamentalist wing. President Obama endorsed same-sex marriage.
No wonder gays strongly prefer Democratic candidates.
Crackdowns against Hispanic immigrants are sought by Republicans --
but Obama blocked deportation of young Latinos who were smuggled
into the United States as tots. No wonder Hispanics strongly prefer
Democratic candidates.
"Paul Ryan's budget plan -- approved by almost every House
Republican and enthusiastically endorsed by Mitt Romney - would have
allowed rates on student loans to double, adding an average of
$1,000 a year to student debt loads," Reich wrote. But the White
House and the Democratic Senate fought this painful burden. No
wonder college-age young people strongly prefer Democratic
candidates.
"Republicans have even managed to antagonize seniors by seeking
to turn Medicare into vouchers whose value won't keep up with rising
health-care costs," Reich added.
In addition to the rich, most GOP political support remains among
less-educated, working-age, churchgoing, white males -- but that
segment of America is diminishing, swamped by the steady rise of
diversity in the populace.
