If consistency is really the hobgoblin of little minds, then Republicans must have the tiniest minds ever. Even though moderate Republicans routinely lament that their party's beliefs are outdated, they do absolutely nothing to fix it. No matter what the issue, at crunch time, they close ranks and willingly drink the Kool-Aid.
The only problem is that it is poisoned Kool-Aid.
The same party discipline that served the Republicans so well during George W. Bush's presidency and during the 2010 midterm elections is now going to destroy the GOP completely. The lockstep mentality of the Republicans (I won't say 'goosestep' but sometimes it almost seems like that) makes it nearly impossible for moderate members of the party to challenge the extremist elements in the GOP. In that party today, you are either all in or all out, a conservative or a troublemaker, an American or a traitor, with nothing in between, and this type of attitude renders the GOP a stagnant dinosaur incapable of evolving with the times and changing values.
So far the party has survived despite this stubbornness for one simple reason: half the nation agrees with the platform on enough issues to support it. That enables the Republicans to at least maintain the status quo. But that advantage is about to disappear in the very near future, and if the party continues being as intransigent and militant as it is, it is absolutely guaranteed to perish.
Why? Simple demographics.
In the last Presidential Election, Mitt Romney won 59 percent of white voters, and the white vote continues to be a major driving force behind the Republican agenda. However, the white vote as a percentage of the total vote is declining rapidly, going from 79.2 percent in 2008 to 73.7 percent in 2012. That change may not seem significant but when viewed with the rate of growth of minorities in the United States, it is very significant indeed.
According to research from the Pew Center, non-white minorities, which currently make up 37 percent of the American population, are projected to account for more than half of the nation by 2050. This progression towards a primarily non-white nation may take another four decades, but the political effects of a growing minority population will manifest themselves much earlier; and as early as 2016. This will be offset to some degree by the fact that many new immigrants are not eligible to vote and that the younger members of ethnic minorities are still too young to vote, but that situation too will change within no time.
In summary, the non-white voting population will continue to grow every year, and the majority of those voters will lean towards the Democrats, as they did during the 2012 elections. While Republicans may be actively courting the Hispanic vote due to the numbers involved, without a serious change to the platform itself they will achieve little traction, let alone with African-Americans -- whom the party just seems to have written off.
Most minorities simply do not believe that the GOP represents their interests, either socially or financially, and are increasingly turned off by the rhetoric of indifference and intolerance that the party seems unable to stifle. It is not a coincidence that the battle between Obama and Romney in 2012 came down to the core issue of equality and that 93 percent of African-Americans and 71 percent of Hispanics voted for Obama in that race.
Until the Republicans alter their beliefs and adjust their priorities, their empty gestures towards minorities will continue to be rejected. Even on the issue of immigration reform, the GOP's stance hardly gives the Latino population a reason to feel respected or included.
This dynamic will not change and will only get worse for the GOP. Without its dependable white voter base to bank on for support, the party will be in serious trouble, and with even moderate Republicans unwilling to speak out against the crazy excesses of their political comrades, the party has no hope.
Unless, of course, you count the nullification of Americans' voting rights as hope...
SANJAY SANGHOEE is a political and business commentator. He has worked at leading investment banks and hedge funds, has appeared on CNBC's 'Closing Bell' and HuffPost Live on business topics, and is the author of two thriller novels, including "Killing Wall Street". For more information, please visit www.sanghoee.com