It’s funny, but one of the things that fascinates me about the modern Republican Party is that they actually do very little pandering to anyone but their base. They don’t care how they are perceived by intellectuals or scientists or foreign countries or young people. They have to be concerned about independent swing-voters, but they’re happy to appeal to their basest instincts and let the chips fall where they may. They make no pretense of liking black people and they do an awful job of appealing to Hispanics. They have no interest in winning LGBT votes. So, it is strangely refreshing to see Sen. Lindsey Graham at least take a longer view when Tom Friedman asks him why he is willing to consider tackling climate change.
“I have been to enough college campuses to know if you are 30 or younger this climate issue is not a debate. It’s a value. These young people grew up with recycling and a sensitivity to the environment — and the world will be better off for it. They are not brainwashed. … From a Republican point of view, we should buy into it and embrace it and not belittle them. You can have a genuine debate about the science of climate change, but when you say that those who believe it are buying a hoax and are wacky people you are putting at risk your party’s future with younger people. You can have a legitimate dispute about how to solve immigration, but when you start focusing on the last names of people the demographics will pass you by.”
In that last part he is referring to immigration reform and the Republicans’ problem with Hispanics. Now, personally, I feel like Sen. Graham displays a limited but badly needed level of self-awareness about what the Republicans need to do going forward to be a genuine party within the American two-party system. Sure, the Republicans can pick up seats with their current approach, but the demographics argue against them holding steady as a legitimate threat to overtake the Democrats for power in Washington.
But what confuses me is that Graham thinks he can save his party by making a lonely stand for sanity on climate change and immigration reform. His party will get no credit for one vote out of forty-one in the Senate. I have no problem with doing the right thing, but to think that there will be a political benefit for the GOP as a whole just strikes me as delusional.
